In a World of Demons
by Moon Step
Summary: AU[InuKag] Kagome had the perfect life. That is, until she finds out that demons inhabite her world and her closest friends might not be friends at all. And not only that, but she has the power to destroy the world with a power she doesn't know how to use
1. Chapter 1: Rescuer

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

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In a World of Demons

Chapter 1: Rescuer

* * *

"Are you certain the girl still has no idea?" 

"_That_ girl?" he began, rolling his eyes, "she is a clueless teenager girl. I still don't see how she has so much power. Are you sure you aren't making some sort of mistake because—"

"Never doubt me!" He yelled, slapping his servant so hard that the servant fell to floor. He continued calmly, "that girl is the one. She could change everything… the balance between good and evil could be changed…"

"Because of _that_ little girl?"

"Yes, _that _girl. That girl could be the end or the beginning of us. She can change everything…"

* * *

Kagome hummed as she walked briskly toward her high school. With a big smile on her face, she had a strong urge to skip and sing out the words of the song, but settled for just humming contently. Today had started off just like any other day, but she couldn't help being happy. She had a wonderful life living with her mom and younger brother, Souta, in a small house in the middle of town, an irreplaceable best friend, Sango, good grades and a good job. There was nothing else she really needed, at least, not at that moment. 

"Hey, Kagome," she heard some on behind her call.

Speak of the devil. Kagome turned around slightly and her smile grew when she saw Sango running up to her.

"Sango!" Kagome cried out, giving her friend a big hug, startling Sango slightly.

"Hey," the athletic girl said to her, hardly out of breath even though she had been running for some time. "I thought you were going to wait for me so we could walk together."

"Oops! It must have slipped my mind," Kagome said, offering an apologetic smile.

Today was the first day of their junior year in high school. Since Sango's parents were divorced she always spent the summer with her mom, making it so Kagome hadn't seen Sango all summer and she had missed her friend desperately. It was one of the reason she was glad school had started. During the school year, Kagome was able to hang out with Sango all the time. The three of them did almost everything together.

Kagome began to grin evilly, thinking of their other friend, making Sango look over at her suspiciously.

"What?" Sango asked warily.

"So Sango… have you seen Miroku yet?"

Sango expression darkened and Kagome had to try to refrain from laughing. Sango hadn't exactly left on good terms with Miroku. When the two of them had been saying goodbye to Sango before she got on the plane to see her mom, there had been an ahem groping incident, worse than normal. It had taken weeks for the handprint on Miroku's face to completely fade. Although he had told Kagome with a big sigh that he had cherished it because it was his last reminder of her. Feeling bad for her depressed friend, Kagome had tried to comfort him, only to end up being groped herself. That earned him a slap on the other cheek, creating a red handprint on each. She had not been particularly offended though, because Miroku made a pass at almost every girl he could find.

She had mostly hung out with Miroku that summer, as she normally did every summer when Sango went away. Kagome did not have many other close friends at school. She was friendly enough, but she must have given off some type of certain aura or something because her fellow classmate had always seemed skittish around her. Not Sango and Miroku though, they were her closest friends. Although it seemed as though Sango and Miroku did not always get along, they did care for each other. Kagome could tell, even though Sango liked to hide it and Miroku also didn't seem to notice he did he chased after other woman half-heartedly when Sango was gone. They really did miss each other; at least Miroku missed Sango a lot. It was both adorable and frustrating to watch them at times.

Speaking of Miroku…

"How are my two most lovely ladies?" a voice said behind them as an arm was draped on each one of the girl's shoulders. Miroku stepped in between them, giving both girls' shoulders a squeeze but still did not remove his arms from around them.

Sango groaned but Kagome only smiled. There had been a time when she would have blushed at his flirtatious ways but after knowing him for so long, she was use to it. Sango and Miroku both had moved into her town when she was in middle school. First had come Sango, and they were instant friends, and not soon after, became best friends. Miroku came about a year later, and, it was sad to say but, yes, Miroku was always a class A pervert. Sango warily excepted him and although it seemed that she was displeased with him most of the time, she could often see a blush crawl up Sango's face when Miroku spoke sweet words to her. Of course, neither girl was going to tell him that, he would become too smug.

"Get off me, Miroku," Sango snapped. Without waiting for a reply, she removed the arm from her shoulder and moved away from him. Kagome did the same.

"You wound me. After so much time away and so cold a response…" Miroku told Sango, clutching his chest in mock pain.

Sango rolled her eyes but her lips quivered upward.

_So she did miss him,_ Kagome thought_, interesting._

"So Kagome, how was your summer?" Sango asked. 

"Oh, it was great! I worked a lot at my job and got a lot cash to help my mom pay for bills and stuff like that. Apart from that I was mostly in my room, reading, on the computer, you know the usually, unless I was out with Miroku here, though I didn't see much of him." Kagome then decided to chance it and said slowly, feeling herself smile as she said it, "… you know, Miroku was very depressed this whole entire summer when you were gone…"

"I'm sure he was," Sango said dryly, although Kagome could not help but notice the faint blush that was creeping its way onto her face.

Miroku seemed to notice too. He immediately took Sango's hands in his, and clasped them close his chest.

"Oh, my dear, dear Sango. These past two months have been dreary without you…" Kagome wasn't sure whether to be offended by his statement or not. Miroku continued, "You only need to say the word and we can make up time for all those cold and lonely nights we were without each other…"

He did not have a chance to continue after she slapping him across the face, hard.

Kagome could only sigh. Would Miroku ever just act civilized around Sango? Or did he like getting slapped over and over and over… you catch the drift.

"You know he carried that last slap mark you gave him before you left for _weeks_," Kagome murmured to Sango. Miroku was too busy rubbing his cheek to notice.

"Good," Sango said with a smile, as if the news had brightened her day.

"There is no hope for the two of you," Kagome told her with another sigh.

"Hope for what?" Sango asked darkly, giving Kagome a deadly look.

Knowing she couldn't get out this one, Kagome took off running, half-yelling, half-singing back to Sango, "noootttttthhhhiiiiinnngg."

"Kagome," Sango said warningly behind her. Kagome only sped up and Sango began to run after her yelling, "KAGOME!"

Kagome began to laugh as she ran away from her friend. Already it seemed like she had never left.

"You won't be laughing much longer!" Sango called to her.

Kagome knew it was true too. Sango could run a lot faster and longer than Kagome. She would have her down in no time. Sango did almost every sport imaginable and always stayed in shape. Kagome just did whatever sport they were doing in gym class at the time.

Kagome glanced back and saw Miroku walking normal pace behind them. Kagome frowned at this. Usually when Kagome and Sango ran like they were now Miroku also followed suit. Sango seemed to notice this too and called back in a taunting, "hey Miroku, what's wrong? Too slow?"

Miroku smiled wickedly. Uh-oh, that was never a good sign. "No thanks! I got a perfect view from back here. With those short skirts your wearing and the wind, I'll be seeing something very interesting from under those skirts very soon."

That stopped both of them dead in their tracks. Kagome began to blush furiously and smoothed down her short skirt. _Stupid school uniform, _she thought, _they just had to make the skirt so damn short_. Looking at Sango, Kagome could tell she was doing the same thing except….

"MIROKU!" Sango yelled, all the while advancing on the walking Miroku.

Kagome hit her hand against her forehead, shaking her head slightly. She turned to walk back to her two friends, hoping they didn't do anything too violent. They really would never learn.

* * *

They arrived at school, all of them bubbling with laughter. Kagome had to lean on Sango for support; she was laughing that hard. This was how it should always be, the three of them together, joking and laughing, and just together. Every day and every night should start with this feeling of totally happiness. 

When they finally stopped laughing, they slowed down their pace, trying to delay having to go to into the school. Kagome walked slightly ahead of them, but she did notice when her friends began to act strange. _Not again, _she thought silently.

Sango suddenly took Miroku's arm and he turned to face her. He would have teased her right then if it hadn't been for the ever so serious face Sango had on. Miroku's grin also faded as he returned the serious face. They both looked to the girl that walked in front of them nearly bouncing around with a big smile on her face, not noticing that she knew something had changed. They began to talk cautiously, thinking that she wouldn't hear, but they were wrong.

"Did anything… strange happen over the summer?" Sango asked quietly.

"No, everything was perfectly quiet. Dully quiet, actually," Miroku answered.

"You're sure? Nothing… suspicious?"

"I'm very sure. Nothing changed, everything's normal. The only thing that's strange are the things we do Saturday nights."

Sango sighed in relief. "Do you think anything will _ever_ happen? I'm starting to doubt it after all the time we've been here and seen nothing…"

Kagome abruptly turned around, still smiling, and pulled Sango along toward the school building, leaving Miroku to trail behind them. Mentally, Kagome frowned. She had caught them talking in similar ways before and it always confused her. Exactly what were they waiting for to happen? The first couple of times she had heard them talking, she had inquired about it but they both had sweat dropped and covered up for it, badly she might add. Now she only listened and got more confused but she had learned to shake it off and think of other things.

But the Saturday night information was new. Exactly _what_ did they do on Saturday? Did they have some sort of relationship? Maybe they had finally gotten together. If they did, Kagome was happy for them, but was a little hurt they hadn't told her. Taking it out of her mind for further thought later, she turned toward Sango to talk.

"So, what did you do over the summer?" Kagome asked trying to cover up for her still puzzled mind.

"Nothing really. There's not much to do at my mom's except sleep, eat, you know that sort." She then brightened. "But my brother lives with my mom full-time, so I did get to spend a lot of time with him."

Kagome sympathized with Sango. She missed her brother a lot after their parents had gotten a divorce. Sango was sent to live with her dad and Kohaku stayed with their mom and not soon after the divorce, her dad moved her here, and she still missed her little brother. It was the only reason she looked forward to going to see her mom for the summer vacation.

"That's great!" Kagome said cheerfully, obviously still in her good mood. "So let me see your schedule, and I'll see what classes we have together."

Sango took her school schedule out of her backpack and handed it to Kagome who immediately started to compare Sango's with hers. They had five out of the eight classes together, which Kagome was happy about. She handed her list back to Sango.

"We don't have first period together, but I guess I'll see you second," Kagome added on the bright side.

"Sango, it looks like we have first period together," Miroku contributed, with a smile, "we have so much time to make up for."

Miroku's arm slid around her waist while Sango slapped his hand until he let go. She rolled her eyes and mouthed the words "save me" to Kagome as they walked away toward their first class. Kagome just laughed and waved bye to them and then headed towards her first period class, science.

* * *

"I don't like us leaving her alone," Sango began, "last year at least one of us was in every class of hers…" 

"You worry too much. You're in five of her classes. If you can't do math, that's more than half. And I might be some of her classes too," Miroku told her.

"It's just that—"

"I doubt something is going to jump out and eat her during the three periods were aren't with her," he joked, then seeing the glare she gave him, he continued, "this is a school remember. It would make quite a scene if something really did jump out at her."

"But she's so young and innocent…"

"Young? We're the same age as her!"

Sango glared again at him. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. But don't worry about her so much."

"I won't, as long as _he_ stays far away from her. He's the only real threat in this school…"

Miroku put an arm around her and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze like he had done that morning. This time, though, she let him.

* * *

Kagome slid into the last seat available in the back of the classroom. She had had trouble opening her new locker, causing her to be late to her first class. She tried to keep her cheeks from burning red as the teacher scrutinized her for walking in late. Not looking directly at the teacher, she grabbed a notebook and a pen, trying to do anything to avoid eye contact. 

She glanced around the room, seeing who was in her class. For once she was nervous about it. Before Sango was in almost all her classes, again like this year, but in the classes she wasn't in, Miroku was in, so during project and class time she always had a partner to work with. She never really had time to get to know the other students in her grade well.

Looking through the classroom, she recognized few people. She immediately saw what looked like the "popular group" and decided to stay away from them as much as she could. Another girl wrote notes furiously, and Kagome wondered if she should do the same. She also saw Hojo and that eased her up a bit. She use to be really close with him when they were kids and had always gone to the same school so maybe they would be able to work together. That way, she had at least one familiar face to work with.

One person stood out in the classroom though. He had never been in one of her classes before but she knew him anyway. Not that she knew him personally, no she had never actually talked to him before, she just recognized him. She wasn't sure he had talked to anyone before. He was a loner, always preferring to be by himself, but just the way he looked made him stand out. He had long silver hair, golden eyes and a tall, muscular body… not that she was staring or anything. He was also the only guy in school, besides Miroku, who refused to wear the tie that went with the boy's school uniform. She did not even know his name. All she knew was that almost everyone in school was terrified of him and the punks that had not been afraid of him when he arrived… well let's just say one of the guys had a arm cast for months.

He had just come to this school in their freshman year so everything about him was mysterious. It was not like anyone knew where he came from or knew him at all. He seemed to have no friends here and neither did he want any. She had run into him a few times but he had always ignored her, like he did everyone else, but he seemed even colder toward her. He insulted other people when he felt like it, but never her. In Kagome's mind, she always saw him as a dog for some reason, but that could have just been from his strange eyes and the long silver hair.

As if sensing her watching him, he turned to face her and Kagome quickly turned back to her to her notebook, writing frantically. She copied what the teacher had written on the board, although her cheeks began to turn redder and redder as she noticed out of the corner of her eye that he was still watching her. She noticed he wasn't writing anything down and neither was he paying any attention to the teacher. Finally, he turned away and Kagome let out a breath she did not even know she was holding.

First period could not have ended fast enough. She quickly gathered all her things, still a little unnerved by the strange boy, and rushed to her locker to put away the new science textbook she had just received. Kagome practically through her textbook in and grabbed another notebook. She closed her locker and began to walk away, in a rush to meet Sango and not really paying attention to where she was going. She ran into someone forcefully causing herself to drop all of her books and causing their books to fall to the ground as well.

"Sorry," she murmured, not really thinking the person heard her. She crouched down on the floor, gathering her things together while only balanced on the balls of her feet.

"You should be, wench. Watch where you're going next time," the boy snapped at her.

She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. The silver-haired boy towered over her, scowling down at her. She lost her balance and fell on her rear still staring out at him in slight shock.

"What are you staring at?" he growled. He still made no move to pick his things.

"Uh… nothing," was Kagome only reply. She gathered his things up for him and handed them up to him while still sitting on the floor. "Here, I'm sorry."

He snatched them out of her hands none too gently and began, "yeah, well—"

"Kagome!" she heard Sango shout in alarm from down the hallway.

Sango and Miroku sprinted down the hallway toward Kagome. They only stopped when they both stood in front of the sitting, bewildered Kagome, as if to shield her from the golden-eyed boy in front of her. They were both in a defense position. Were they… were they going to fight the boy? For running into her? Kagome was extremely confused.

"Real protective _friends_ you got here, wench," the boy sneered as he looked the two up and down, as if measuring them up. He had emphasized the word friends, which had confused Kagome.

Kagome could see Miroku and Sango stiffen at his remark. What did the boy mean? Of course they were her friends! Why else would they be here? They were just a little over-protective.

"Leave. Now," Sango said.

"You idiots, it's not what you think," Inuyasha informed them in a don't-really-care manner.

"I think we understand perfectly," Sango responded.

"You _will_ stay away from her," Miroku said confidently.

Kagome snapped out of it and gathered her fallen books from where they were scattered on the ground. She realized they were making a scene and the students around them were watching, wide-eyed. They could not believe anyone was messing with the loner kid. He had beaten up some very powerful kids when he had first come and now no one dared stand in his way. So what were the girl and boy thinking? Were they insane? That was what the students murmured to each other as they watched from a safe distance. _Cowards,_ thought Kagome.

The golden-eyed boy looked exceedingly ticked off by the moment as they spat insults back and forth. Did the two really think they could stand up to _him?_ They had to be insane or way too protective of the little wench.

Kagome tugged at Miroku's arm and said, "please, it was my fault. I ran into him." Miroku just glared at her, though he began to ease up. "Really, he didn't do anything."

The boy seemed surprised by her statement. Was she… helping him? Not that he needed the help; he could take the two on easily, but…. Didn't she know who he was? By looking at her innocent, wide eyes, he realized that she didn't. That made him smirk suddenly. She had no idea what was going on in the world.

Miroku finally eased up entirely and got out of his defensive position. He smiled at Kagome and said, "well it has all been a big misunderstanding then, hasn't it?" His tone was friendly enough but Kagome could tell he was staring daggers at the other boy as if telling him to remember his warning.

"But, Miroku—" Sango started. She still had not moved an inch. Her eyes were locked with the golden ones in a death stare.

"Let us go, lovely maidens," Miroku said, ushering them down the hallway, "we have class to attend."

The silver haired boy rolled his eyes and turned around with a last word that sounded like "feh". Meanwhile, Miroku began to break up the crowd that had gathered, charming all the ladies while he did it. Sango looked rather annoyed at this so Kagome tried to distract her from Miroku's flirtatious attitude. She also seemed usually tense, even after the boy had left. Kagome began to lead Sango towards the gym, their next class, telling Miroku they'd meet him later. He was too preoccupied to notice.

"Are you sure he wasn't hurting you?" Sango asked for the umpteenth time.

"I told you I just ran into him by accident," Kagome replied for the umpteenth time.

"Is that really what happened or is that what he told you to say because—"

"Sango!" Kagome cried out, frustrated, "It's fine really. Nothing happened. You are way too over-protective."

"I'm just looking out for you. I mean you're too weak to do anything yourself…" Sango joked.

"Hey!" Kagome said in mock hurt.

Sango laughed and Kagome quickly joined in too. They ran toward the gym while laughing, seeing that the bell that began class had rung sometime ago. It was alright though, since it was the first day of school, all they had to do was pick what they wanted to do in gym for that semester. It wasn't like they were missing anything important. Kagome and Sango sneaked into the back of the room carefully so that the gym teacher did not notice and sat down behind the other students on the floor. It would not have mattered if they had saw them though, because all the gym teachers loved Sango because of how good at each sport she was. Kagome on the other hand… well lets say they only liked her mostly because she was Sango's friend. It wasn't that she was bad in gym, it was just that she was not the best.

Kagome grabbed the papers that were being handed back and handed one to Sango too then tossed them at another student. She looked to see what courses they were offering in the fall of the year.

"Let's see… soccer… football… track… self-defense…" Well that last one sounded interesting. Maybe she would take a self-defense class. Maybe then Sango and Miroku would not worry about her so much. Then the last course caught her eye. "Archery?"

Sango, who had been leaning against the wall with her eyes closed now, opened one eye lazily. "Hmm?"

"Look, they have a archery class," Kagome stated, clearly interested.

Sango then looked over her sheet and said, "why not take self-defense? It might be useful for you."

"Won't it be useful for you too?"

"I already know self-defense."

"Oh." Of course she knew self-defense. She had seen her use it against Miroku constantly. "Well, then I wouldn't want to take something you already knew how to do."

Kagome and Sango had always taken the same class. This way, it helped with her argument for taking archery. Archery was something that the school had never offered before and she was curious to learn how to do it.

"I really think we should take self-defense. There are some weird creeps out there. It could come in handy," Sango told her.

"Yes, but if we take archery then I can shot all the creeps with my bow and arrow," Kagome told her cheerfully.

"That you'll just happen to bring with you wherever you go," Sango replied dryly.

"Of course," Kagome said with a smile.

"What happen when the creep is two feet in front of you and decides to break your bow? Of course, this is after the fact that you happen to have the bow and arrow with you at the time," Sango said.

"Okay, so I haven't thought this all the way through, but come on, it'll be fun! And they won't offer archery in the winter but they do offer self-defense so we take archery now and self-defense later."

Sango sighed in a defeated way and Kagome knew she had won. Kagome gave Sango a quick hug and Sango held up her hands in an "I surrender" way.

"You won't regret it. It's not like you haven't taken every other sport they offer here. It'll be good to learn something new." Kagome saw Sango still grumbling and quickly added, "and the instructor is that hot guy over there."

Kagome pointed to a new gym teacher and Sango perked up. "Oh, well, when you put it that way…"

"You don't know how much your words hurt me," Miroku spoke as he sat down next to Sango who immediately shifted so that she could see all of him, making sure a hand did not appear from nowhere and end up making Miroku get slapped from his dastardly deeds.

"And we obviously ignore the fact that you were flirting with half the girls in the school just minutes ago," Sango told him.

"Obviously," Miroku agreed.

"You two sound like an old married couple," Kagome added.

That shut up Sango within seconds and Miroku stopped talking but had a smug look on his face.

What they did not know was that the whole conversation and conversations to come while in the gym class were all being heard by a certain silver-haired boy.

* * *

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Miroku was hardly in any of her classes, which Sango was ecstatic about. She said they saw him too much anyway, which was true enough. They had ended up taking archery in gym while Miroku had decided to take soccer. Miroku said he rather not make a fool out of himself at archery saying he had tried it once and had little success. Sango was actually a little disappointed then, saying she would have _loved_ to see him make an idiot out of himself. 

She had walked home with the two, lugging a heavy bag of textbook behind her. Miroku had oh-so kindly asked to carry Sango bag for her and she agreed, which shocked them all. So Miroku was stuck dragging two full backpacks home and was having a lot of trouble with it. Sango later told me that besides the textbooks, she had also filled all the free spaces with bricks. Kagome and Sango could not stop laughing the entire time while watching Miroku struggle until they reached Kagome's house.

"You can drop Sango's bag here, Miroku," Kagome told him, "she's going to stay over for a while."

Was it just her, or did Miroku look extremely relieved? Sango's house was actually a couple of blocks past Kagome's house and he had no problem dropping the bag on the ground and leaving for his home as quickly as possible.

As they saw him scurry away, they broke out laughing again. Sango opened her bag and dumped out all the brick onto Kagome's lawn before picking it up again.

"I could not resist when I saw some bricks next to the school. It was perfect revenge," Sango said between gasps for air after laughing so hard.

"Revenge for what exactly?" Kagome asked when she herself had enough air.

Sango gestured her hand in the air and said, "everything."

* * *

The two hung out in Kagome's room for some time, doing the little homework they had received on the first day. They swapped stories of their summer vacation while snacking on some foods. By the time Sango went home around five, Kagome's stomach hurt a lot from all the laughing they had been doing. Just bringing up the image of Miroku scurrying away sent her into a fit of giggles. 

She ate a quick dinner with her mom and brother before rushing upstairs to put on her work uniform. Between wearing her school uniform and her work one, she hardly ever wore normal clothes. She called a goodbye to her mom as she ran out the door toward her job at the department store. She had to be there by six and…ugh… it was already five forty-five. It was just enough time to get there, if she hurried. It was still light out and would not turn dark until around nine.

She practically ran all the way there and could not breathe until she finally stopped inside the department store. She swore she thought the other clerks there thought she was dying or something. One was even about to call an ambulance before Kagome stopped her.

When she calmed down a bit, she took her place behind the register and began to serve the customers. The night was long and boring, just like every other night, but the money they paid was good so Kagome stuck with her job. She was only suppose to work until nine, but they were short a few people so she offered to stay until eleven. Even though she would be tired tomorrow, she figured it would be okay since school just started and she really did not have to learn anything yet. She might as well get some extra money while she could.

The whole while she was there she kept seeing strange men walk around her section of the department. Not that the men were strange on their own, it was just weird to see so many grown men wearing mostly black in the young girl's section of the department store. The other clerks thought so too. Kagome could hear them muttering to each other has they hung up clothes that had been left in the fitting rooms.

After about ten o'clock, though, the men disappeared from the store. For that, Kagome was grateful. The men had unknowingly given her goosebumps all over. Now she would not have to worry about going past them when she went home that night.

Eleven o'clock came and she said goodbye to the other women who were closing up. She considered calling her mom for a ride but decided against it. Her mom was probably sleeping already and Kagome was not even sure she had a quarter to call with. Wrapping her arms tightly around her, wishing she had brought a coat, as she walked outside into the chilly night's air.

Okay, maybe it was not that chilly, seeing how it was still part of summer, but it was still fairly cold. She debated with herself which way to go home. There was the long way, which would take a half an hour to walk home or the shorter way, which would take roughly ten minutes. The only thing was, the shorter way lead mostly into dark places, out of the town's lights. But what was she a little girl? She could just as easily get jumped on the long way home, seeing as any attackers had more time to get to her and she was tired. All Kagome wanted to do was collapse on her nice warm bed and get there as soon as possible. Making her decision, Kagome walked into the darkness of the shorter way.

She did not realize how fast her pacing was until she tripped and fell to the ground and a little yelp escaped her. She hated to admit it, but she was scared. She jumped at every sound she heard, making herself more nervous by the minute. _This is stupid,_ she thought to herself, _I shouldn't be so afraid. Who would attack me?_

Right about now she was regretting not taking those self-defense classes with Sango. Not that they would have done her any good at the moment since the actually class had not started yet, but it would at least given her some peace of mind.

It was always how it started, right? The pretty girl would start to walk through the alley and then a guy in a hockey mask and a chainsaw would come. The girl would scream for her live and start to run down the alleyways and just when she thought she lost him he appears in front of her, the chainsaw now up and running and all you hear is her last scream before the camera fades out.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid,_ Kagome thought, thinking about girls dying in alleys not really helping at the moment.

That's when she actually heard it. There were footsteps behind her. Could she be imagining it? As long as she did not turn around, it wouldn't be really. That's what she kept telling herself anyway. She quickened her pace and the footsteps behind her quickened. Kagome ran and the people behind her ran too. From the sound of it there was more than one person. Cross out the hockey mask guy theory, though she was not sure if that was good or bad.

She turned out of the alley into another alley and stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her were two other men, both wearing all black. She noticed they were the same men from the store, not that that knowledge could help her at all. She spun around only to see three other men from the store turn the corner until the alley where she stood.

She was trapped.

"Hello, little missy," said one of the men.

He stepped forward toward her and she took at step back, then realizing that only brought her closer to the men behind her, she took a step forward again. The man, obviously the leader of the five, laughed at her attempt.

"What do you want?" Kagome asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Obviously, she failed because the man only laughed again.

"Why, I thought that would have been obvious," he said as if he were talking to a small, small child.

"I don't have any money…" Kagome began.

"No, not money. We want you. Come to fetch you, we have."

He kind of sounded like a pirate as he said that last part. That amusing thought gave her some courage. "What, so you're just someone's lapdog? Who sent you?" Who would want her was the only thing circling around her head again and again.

He seemed anger at her statement. "I'll teach you some manners. You shouldn't be asking any questions here." He seemed to think for a second then said what he was thinking out loud. "The boss never said we couldn't have some fun with you though. Only said we needed to bring you. I think we have some time for a little fun and a teaching of manners, don't we boys?"

The "boys" all laughed in unison while a shiver ran up Kagome spine and the blood drained from her face. She backed up against one of the walls while they advanced on her.

"No," Kagome whispered.

What was she doing? No, this could not happen, it just couldn't! Taking in a deep breath she thought fiercely, _Even if I go down, I am _not_ going down without a fight._

Suddenly determined, she took all the strength she had and with a cry of fury, she punched the leader, who was the closest one to her, in the face with all her might. The leader, obviously stunned, stumbled backward and tripped over something, falling to the floor. Kagome meanwhile pulled back her injured fist. Why did no one ever tell her punching someone actually hurt! In the movies, it always seemed so easy! Not pausing for another moment she began to run for it.

One man leap at her as she began to run, meaning to grab her by her waist, but missed, although he still managed to get a hold of one of her ankles and she fell with a large thud. The man held on tight to her ankle while she thrashed around wildly trying to get out of his grip. She started to scream wildly in frustration and panic. She ended up kicking him hard in the face and he instantly let go of her ankle to put his hand on his injured nose. She thought she might have broken it.

She tried to get up but only made it to her knees when another man kicked her in the back of the head. She fell back onto to the floor, completely dazed. Two men came and picked her up each grabbing one elbow. She could hardly stand on her own two feet that was how dazed she was, so the men held her up with their own strength.

The leader stormed up to her and backhanded her across the face and Kagome began to see gray dots in her vision that went along with her newly acquired headache. She was sure he would have killed her there if it had not been for their boss wanting to see her. Kagome went completely limp and the two men almost dropped her. Her bangs covered her eyes, making the men unsure if she was still conscious or not. The leader cautiously stepped forward and Kagome quickly kicked him in the family jewels with all the strength she could muster up.

Kagome promptly took her arms out of the two men's grip, them being too shock for a moment to notice. She tried to leave but she was stumbling as she walked. Her head ached from the attack on the back of her head and her vision had not entirely cleared yet. A hand to the back of her head revealed a sticky liquid, blood. One man took her arm forcing her to turn around though she quickly yanked her arm out of his grip. Another man took out a knife and made a swipe at her. Kagome jumped back but the knife still made contact with her arm, biting deep into the skin of her upper arm, causing her to scream in pain.

He lifted the knife again but the leader screamed, "NO! We need her alive."

The men took her to the ground then, as she was distracted by her wound. Two men took hold of her legs, each man having one to hold down, while two other men did similar with her arms. She still moved around wildly though it was harder now with four men holding her. The men began to tear her clothes making her scream even louder then before.

"Someone shut that fucking girl up, someone else might hear," the leader hissed at them.

But the men could not put a hand over her mouth because the men holding her legs were too far away and the men holding her arms would have to try to hold her arm with only one hand and she could get that arm free than, so none wanted to risk it. One of the men had a brilliant idea of grabbing her wounded arm to make her shut up but that only made Kagome scream even louder, if that was possible, in pain.

"Somebody help me! Please!" Kagome screamed. "Please! Help me!"

"Nobody going to help you. Nobody cares," the leader whispered to her as if it were a comforting thing.

"Please," she whispered hoarsely, her voice finally strained to the max. _No! Somebody… Sango… Miroku… Somebody help me! _Kagome thought over and over again knowing no one would come. Nobody would save her…

"You know, it's really sad that five demons can't take care of one _human girl,_ one wimpy human girl in fact."

Kagome stiffened as she heard the voice. Had someone… had someone come to save her? But she did not recognize the voice. Did that mean the person was part of the other five and just joking around with them? Or had he come just to kidnap her himself?

"What's it to you?" the leader growled at him. He got up from beside Kagome where he had begun to tear her shirt apart and he walked toward the stranger.

She could not see either of them, but she could tell the person who just arrived was male because of his voice. The man was in the darkness of the alley and Kagome could not lift her head without it aching though she could not see much because the men holding her down were blocking most of her line of view.

"I think you should let the human girl go and let your boss go fetch her himself… unless he's too much of coward to do his own dirty work," he sneered.

"You're not one to talk, hanyou," the leader spat back.

He laughed bitterly. "That's all I need to take you wimps out."

A hanyou? Wasn't that some sort of demon? What were they talking about? Maybe it was a name of a gang or something, though that thought did not ease Kagome's mind at all.

All Kagome heard were grunts from each of the two as they fought, a scream of pain, then silence. For a second no one moved, including Kagome who had not really moved since she had heard the stranger's voice.

The men holding her abruptly let go and charged at the stranger. She tried to watch the fight while crawling backward but her vision kept blurring making everything seem like double in her sight. The stranger also wore all dark clothing but she could tell him apart from the other because of his silver hair and amber eyes. Silver hair…? That seemed familiar in her mind but her head was too muddled to remember.

She definitely knew something was wrong with her when she could not keep track of everyone's movements. They all seemed to be moving and punching too fast, faster than any human could. The stranger especially seemed to be moving way too swiftly. To her, he was just a blur of speed and long silver hair flying behind him.

Soon the rest of the men were gone, dead or dying on the floor. The ones that were dead began to dissolve away. First their skin melted then the tissues and organs and finally the bones too began to dissolve until all that was left was ash on the floor. Kagome knew she was really losing it. Since when did humans dissolve?

The stranger brushed off his shirt, she supposed he was trying to get the men's blood off him. He then looked over at Kagome and stomped over to her, saying sternly, "get up."

She did not respond only stared up at him. She felt exhausted from lack of sleep and the events of the night. She found her hands gave way and she fell onto the ground, lying down, not having the energy to get up again. She had fallen and could not get up.

"Hey! Are you stupid or something? Get up!" he snapped.

"You… you saved me…" Kagome told him softly.

Her vision was getting darker and darker by the second and her head felt muddled. He crouched down next to where she was lying on the ground, frowning down at her. She saw his lips moving but could not make out what he was saying no matter how much she tried to focus. She brought one hand up to rest against his cheek to try to confirm he was really there and this all wasn't some dream.

The last thing she remembered was two small golden orbs in front of her. Then there was only darkness.


	2. Chapter 2: Saturday Nights

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

* * *

****

In a World of Demons

Chapter 2: Saturday Nights

* * *

"…depending on what side she chooses, everything could be changed. Everything _will_ be changed." 

"And you're sure about this?"

"We've been waiting centuries for this. For the right girl to come along…"

He paused for a second, in deep thought.

"We must get her to join us." Just then he smiled evilly. "Or we will destroy her."

"So you want us to go after her then?"

"Yes, bring four of your demons and go meet her outside that store she works at. She'll be in for a nasty surprise tonight." He paused. "Make sure she is brought straight to me. Alive." He added the last part, knowing that the demons did get rough sometimes.

* * *

Inuyasha watched as the girl walked through the dark alley alone. _Stupid girl_, he thought, _has she ever seen a horror movie? The girl in the alley almost always dies_. 

He saw the other men come behind her, noticing them even before she did, but that was to be expected. He had demon senses that she did not. Also he was on the roof of the building and looking down he got a better view of things.

He heard the conversation she had with the demon men. _She's an even bigger idiot then I thought, with her provoking them like that_, he thought. He watched as she cringed at the man's mention of rape, heard her small whisper of terror, and saw her move back against the wall. Typical girl. She could not even defend herself. Then she did something that surprised him; she began to fight back. Expecting her to be a totally failure, he was even more surprised when some of the things she did worked. Screw those self-defense classes her and the other girl had been talking about, she was doing fine enough on her own.

Inuyasha thought they had her once, but she ended up kicking the leader right where it counts and getting out of the other demon's grasp_. Remind me never to tick her off_, Inuyasha thought. He saw her fatal mistake though. When she saw that knife she became more afraid and her fighting back was not as good. He saw as they pulled her down to the floor and tore at her clothes. His hands gripped the edge of the roof tightly. Then realizing what he was doing he stopped. Why should he care about the girl down there? She was just another stupid human girl. Though, actually, she was more than that. There was talk about the powers that lay deep within her… no doubt why the demons had appeared to take her in the first place. Maybe it would be better if she died though. That way, neither side would have her power. That was it, he was decided. Inuyasha would let the demons do what they wanted with her, and hopefully they would kill her. It would solve a lot of people's problems.

His decision made, he was about to leave, really should have left, but Inuyasha could not take her eyes off the girl. She still thrashed around screaming for someone to save her. He felt his hands turn into fists again but stopped himself. He should not care about the stupid girl down there. It was her own fault; she should not have gone down the alley. Though something deep inside him said that they would have found her anyway so it made no difference. He debated with himself for sometime while watching the girl below him.

For some reason he did care. Maybe it was because he knew the girl from school, had seen her laugh and kid around with her friends. That big smile of hers and her shining eyes when she laughed… and then seeing her down there struggling against demons that wanted to take her innocence away. Or maybe because she had done him a favor earlier that day when she made her friends back off. He was not exactly sure why, but what he did know was that he needed to stop them.

"Oh, hell!" Inuyasha mumbled to himself as he flew off the roof and landed on the ground below neatly on all fours. He carefully got up onto his feet.

None of the men noticed him, they were too preoccupied with handling the wild girl. These demons were pathetic, but he guessed since their boss had only wanted to get one small girl he did not think he needed powerful demons to take her. Boy, was he wrong. Inuyasha would have killed the pathetic excuses for demons anyway now, if only to annoy their boss.

"You know, it's really sad that five demons can't take care of one _human girl,_ one wimpy human girl in fact."

He saw the girl stop moving instantly. He had only a moment to wonder what was going through her head before the leader of the five stepped forward toward him.

"What's it to you?" the leader growled at him.

He got up off the girl, throwing a piece of the shirt he had just ripped off her to the ground. He approached the hanyou with lazy steps, trying to provoke the half-demon. And it was working.

"I think you should let the human girl go and let your boss go fetch her himself… unless he's too much of coward to do his own dirty work," he sneered, taking a challenging step forward.

"You're not one to talk, hanyou," the leader spat back, clearly pissed off.

He laughed bitterly at his remark. "That's all I need to take you wimps out."

Inuyasha punched him in the face before he even had time to react. The demon grunted with the force of the blow. He brought his hand up to punch him again, but he jumped out of the way fast and grabbed a knife from somewhere under his clothes where it had been concealed. The leader took aim to slash at Inuyasha but found him gone.

"What the…?" the demon muttered to himself.

He looked to each side for any sign of Inuyasha but did not see him. What he forgot to do was look behind him.

_What amateurs,_ Inuyasha thought, while mentally rolling his eyes.

He stuck his clawed hand into the demon's back and it came out the other side. With a choked scream, the demon fell to the floor dead, dropping his weapon with a sharp clang, and began to dissolve into nothingness.

Weak too.

There was a brief silence before the other four began to charge blindly at Inuyasha. It was sad, really, how slow and easily the brainless thugs were defeated. A few dodges here and there and then a swipe with his claws and they were all ash on the floor. He supposed for a human girl, though, they were a little hard to handle. That why he was glad he was not human. They were too weak and fragile for his liking.

Inuyasha brushed the ash off his shirt easily. He was lucky that he had not got any blood on it though. He hated wasting a good shirt. He looked over where the girl had been. During the fight he had saw her trying to scurry away, but now she was frozen where she was in the middle of the alley. She stared at him with a blank, confused look on her face.

He trudged his way over to her and said firmly, "get up."

The girl did not respond which ticked him off. Why didn't she say something, anything at all? Why didn't she demand an explanation or throw herself at him, crying, or anything? Why didn't she react?

The girl slumped to the ground lying, oddly still, staring blankly up at the dark sky.

"Hey! Are you stupid or something? Get up!" he snapped, annoyed.

Which was not really being fair, he knew, because she had received quite a shock in the past half an hour of her life. She had probably lived in an oh-so perfect world and bam! all the sudden she was forced until a world of kidnap and rape and oh, yeah, demons. Though he was not positive she knew about the demon part. People usually tend to ignore what they could not explain and make up their own logical explanation for themselves.

"You… you saved me…" Kagome told him softly. He crouched down beside her laying form. She was blinking slowly over and over again as if she was having trouble seeing.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Inuyasha said gruffly. He froze suddenly when she raised a hand up to him and placed it gently against his cheek. After a few moment he said, though slightly less harsh, "don't think much of it because—"

He did not finish his sentence when the girl went suddenly limp, her hand fell to the ground with a soft thud. She wasn't…? Was she? Inuyasha quickly checked for a pulse and found it was still there although it was weak. She had lost a lot of blood and was still losing a lot more, but she was not dead and he was relieved. Wait, why was he relieved? Didn't he just wish she was dead before? He shook himself out of it telling himself that he did not care. He was only worried because whoever the boss of those goons were would have be after him if he found out he had gotten the girl killed, but the girl was alive so he was safe. Inuyasha highly doubted the boss cared that the demons he sent out were dead.

He nudged the girl slightly but she did not wake. "Come on, girl, wake up." Still she did not respond, not that he expected her to.

The girl's shirt was hardly a shirt anymore. It was ripped and torn into a few different pieces. He noticed that the girl's bra was still together, the thugs obviously had not gotten that far yet. Then he found himself blushing wondering why he even was thinking about it. He took off his own shirt and put it on the girl awkwardly because of her limp form. He ripped off the sleeve of the arm that had gotten cut by the demon's blade, forming the material into a rather pitiful bandage for her arm, but it would slow down the bleeding. With a defeated sigh, he picked up the girl, putting one arm underneath her knees and the other wrapped behind her back, careful not bang into the wound on her right arm, though that was nearly impossible, seeing that her arm was against his chest.

"You'd better be grateful for this later," he mumbled to the unconscious body he held in his arms.

He jumped up and easily landed on the roof he had been observing her from before. He gracefully jumped from roof to roof until he reached the roof of her house sometimes later. He looked through the windows until he found one that led into a mostly pink room that reeked of the girl's scent. Thankfully, the window was open and he climbed into the room. He dropped the girl onto the bed and threw a blanket on her. Then with one last glance at the girl, he disappeared out the window.

* * *

Kagome's eyes slowly blinked open. She was laying on something soft… her bed. She groaned as she began to become conscious of her surroundings. Why did her head have to hurt so much? 

Her head jumbled, she tried to remember the events of the night before. The last thing she remembered before passing out, was two golden orbs… no they weren't orbs, they had been eyes. She remembered two golden eyes looking down at her…. Had it all been a dream?

No, the throbbing of her arm and head were evidence of the reality of last night. Flashes of the night before came back to her. The men had come out of nowhere… she was struggling and had gotten nicked by the man's knife… thrashing like a wild woman on the ground… a stranger's appearance… a few minutes of stunned silence… the feel of the stranger's cheek against her hand… and the stranger's eyes watching her… then… darkness.

But how did she get back in her room? She was on top of her bed; a stray blanket had been thrown over her. Had the stranger brought her back to her house? The golden-eyed strange… why did it seem so familiar? Wait… she searched her memory and found what she was looking for. The day before… there had been a boy with silver hair and amber eyes. She had run into him in the hallway and…. Had it been the same person? But in the hallway he seemed to not give a damn who she was or what she was doing as long as she stayed out of his way. How could he be the same person who saved her? But remembering the stranger who saved her, she recalled the same silver hair and amber eyes.

She stopped further thought when she heard her mom coming down the hallway toward her room. Kagome noticed a few bloodstains on her sheets from her bleeding arm—no wonder why she felt so light-headed— and quickly covered them with the blanket. She was not sure if she mom knew if she was hurt or not. The boy might have gone through the house without her mom ever knowing and brought her to her bed without notifying anyone else in the house. That was the most likely answer, since her mom was not in her room already worrying about her.

Her mom opened the door slowly with a comforting smile on her face. She turned the lights on, but at Kagome's moan, she turned them back off. She was grateful for that, since in the dark she would not notice the other spots of blood that were all over her bed.

"Don't you have school today, Kagome?" her mother asked softly. That confirmed it though, her mom did not yet know and neither was Kagome going to tell her. "Sango's waiting downstairs for you."

"I don't fell so well," Kagome croaked. It was rather convincing too because her voice was so hoarse from all the screaming she had done the night before.

"Alright, you can stay home today. I'll go tell Sango." He mom was about to leave when she asked Kagome, "do you want her to come up to see you?"

"No!" Kagome said abruptly. Her mother seemed startled by how fast she had answered and she continued, "uh… you know, I just don't want to get her sick or anything."

Her mother accepted this answer and went to tell Sango that she was sick. It was not that Kagome did not want to see Sango, but she did not want to tell her what happened. If she came up to see her, she would notice something was wrong in an instant and then demand an explanation and this is assuming that she had not already noticed the blood on her sheets. So no seeing Sango today.

* * *

Miroku met Sango in front of the school, smiling, and then realized something was missing. 

"Where's Kagome?" he asked.

"She's at home, sick with something, I don't know what," Sango said gloomily.

"Then what's with the depressed look?"

"Well, she didn't want me to come up and see her…. I guess I'm just worried, that's all."

"Yes, because we all know how deadly the flu is." He said sarcastically. He thought for a moment. "Well, actually I suppose it could—"

"Not that!" Sango cried angrily while hitting him in the back of the head. "I felt something… well, something _wrong_."

"So you've become a psychic now?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow at her. "I thought it was my job to feel out strange things. Speaking of feeling…"

Sango suddenly found Miroku's hand on her back and sliding down toward her rear.

"Stop it!" she yelled as she knocked his hand away.

_She didn't even slap me that time,_ Miroku thought, this must be serious then. "Look, like I said yesterday, you are way too paranoid. Nothing has hurt her before so why should they start now?"

Miroku thought, "Look, like I said yesterday, you are way too paranoid. Nothing has hurt her before so why should they start now?" 

"They could start hurting her at anytime! That's why were here, remember?"

"Oh, Sango," Miroku sighed, "no one's hurting her, alright? She's fine."

The bell rung and both of them began to walk into the school building, Sango comforted by Miroku's words. What they did not notice was the boy sitting on a tree branch of a tree in front of the school, observing them as they walked away

"That's what you think," Inuyasha said out loud, though no one could hear.

He silently fell to the ground and walked towards his first class.

* * *

Kagome drifted into a half-asleep, half-awake phase, not really thinking at all, until her brother had left for school and her mom had left for work. When she was sure they were gone, she sat up swiftly, and immediately regretted it. Her head ached terribly. Recalling something else from the night before, she put a hand to the back of her head and winced. There was dry blood all over the back of her head making her hair sticky and disgusting. She looked back at her pillow and found it covered with her blood. 

Then she finally noticed something else. The boy had wrapped her wounded arm, rather badly, but it looked as if he had at least tried. The wound on her arm was still bleeding slightly. No wonder she was feeling so woozy, but the attack had only been, what, five, six, hours ago? Kagome also noticed that she was wearing her rescuer's shirt, minus the one sleeve he had used to wrap her arm with. She pulled the material at her chest and looked down at what lay beneath it. Her work uniform was little more than scraps of material that she was amazed were still on her. Her pants were fine, her attackers had not had time to start ripping them before the boy came along.

The first thing she did was take a shower and get all the dried blood off her. When she got all of the blood off her skin and out of her hair, she drained the now pink bath water, and put on her robe, but not before re-bandaging her wounded arm. Kagome then threw everything her blood stained, the blankets, pillow cover, etc, everything, including her rescuer's shirt, into the washing machine. She then went down to the kitchen to get some Tylenol for her pounding head.

She rethought the actions of last night and kept coming up with one odd thing, the men dissolving. People do not just dissolve into ash. She had never seen a dead body before, sure, but she knew that much. People only turned to ash after being cremated or burned, but she remembered no fire. Was her mind playing tricks on her? It was very possible since everything about last night, after getting hit in the back of the head, was fuzzy.

Kagome turned on the news, expecting to see something about five guys dead in an alley. After flipping through different news channels for an hour and finding nothing she stopped. They couldn't have not found the dead bodies, someone was bound to pass through that alley during the day, but according to what Kagome saw on the news, or rather what she didn't see, what happened to the bodies? Had they really just disappeared into ash? Somehow she could not believe that, would not believe it. There had to be a logically explanation for it. Possibly the boy had gone back and moved the bodies…? But somehow she did not believe that either.

Also, what was with the leader of the five calling the boy a hanyou? What was_ that_ about?

Too many unanswered questions filled Kagome head and she had to stop before her headache returned. One thing was certain though. She was going to school tomorrow and she was going to ask that boy about it.

* * *

Kagome climbed up the stairs to her school alone. She had called Sango the night before and told her not to wait for her that morning. Sango had seemed relieved to hear her voice, which just puzzled Kagome, but didn't like the idea of not walking without her, saying there were a lot of creeps out there. Didn't she know it! Kagome assured Sango that she was going in later and her mom was driving her. It was a lie, but Sango would have been pissed off if she found out she was walking by herself. So Sango agreed and told her she would meet her later. See? Way too over-protective. 

First period had just started and all the hallways were deserted except for a few stragglers who either didn't have class, didn't care, or were still getting to their classrooms. She was hoping the boy who had saved her wasn't in the classroom yet. She wanted to talk to him away from other people, but didn't know where else to find him other than school. If he was already in the class, she would have to find a way to draw him out to talk to him.

It seemed luck was on her side because just as she turned the corner to the hallway where her class was, she saw the boy walking toward the door. She stared running toward him, her backpack forgotten on the ground.

"Hey! Hey… you!" Kagome called, finding she still didn't know his name.

He either did not hear her, which she doubted, thought she was talking to someone else, or he was just ignoring her. She was betting on the latter.

"Hey, stop! Wait up, dog-boy!" Kagome exclaimed, using her own nickname for him. She wasn't sure why, but he reminded her of a dog.

The last remark made him stop in his tracks and turn to face her, annoyance plain on his face.

"You wanted something, wench?" he asked harshly.

That made Kagome stop short a few feet away from him. Was it possible she was mistaken? Could it be someone else had saved her? But who else had silver hair? No, she was positive it was him.

When she didn't speak he continued, "are you retarded? Or do you actually have a question?"

"I…"

"You…" Inuyasha mimicked, one eyebrow raised.

"I just wanted to thank you… for saving my life."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He turned to walk away but she grabbed hold of his arm. He turned back around to see her shaking her head furiously, not looking up at him, but at the ground instead.

"No, I'm not stupid. You came…that night…and those men…"

"That's a nice story you got there." _And she still hasn't figured out that her attackers were demons not men, _Inuyasha thought.

"No, you're lying! I know you saved me. How many people do you know that have golden eyes and silver hair?"

"Whatever, wench. I didn't save anyone." Seeing the crestfallen look on her face he continued, "I might've beaten up a few…" he hesitated, "…men the other night, but I didn't save no one."

He began to walk away which added to Kagome's irritation. He was not even walking toward the class anymore, he was walking toward one of the school's exits instead.

"Do you at least have a name, dog-boy?"

He paused in his steps for an instant then continued walking. "Inuyasha," he told her.

"Inuyasha," Kagome breathed, then yelled at him, "don't you want to know mine?"

"Not really." Although it was a lie, he was a little curious, but only a little. But he knew she would tell him anyway. That's just how girls were. She'd tell him in five… four… three… two… one…

Silence.

"Do you often go around and save girls from dark alleys?" Kagome called after his retreating form.

He nearly fell over. That was not what he was expecting. He stopped walking and answered her question.

"No," he said cautiously while turning around, not sure where she was leading with her question.

"Oh, so I'm just special than? Why were you there that night? You just happened to come across me being attacked? And how did you know where I lived? How'd you get into my house? I'm pretty sure I locked that door before I left."

"Hey, what's with the third degree here!" he cried out as she advanced on him. He was increasingly startled by her attitude. He stopped acting like his normal brooding self as the small girl walked up to him and he became flustered by her.

Kagome, on the other hand, was bursting with unanswered questions that had bothered her all day yesterday and that morning and the only person that could give her her answers was the boy standing in front of her. The boy who saved her, also known as Inuyasha.

She poked him in the chest making him walk backwards as they talked. "I want some answers here! There's something you're not telling me—" she poked him, "—and I want to know what it is." Another poke. "Who were those men?" Poke. "Why were they after me?" Poke. "Why did they call you a hanyou?"

"Uh, so you remember that, do you?" he asked, then to himself, "damn I thought you were too out of it at the time to notice…"

"You should start answering my questions!"

"Would you stop jabbing your finger at me!" She had poked him until he was now up against the lockers in the deserted hallway. She still poked him until Inuyasha caught her finger. "Stop it already, will you?"

"Grrr…" Kagome growled.

Inuyasha seemed startled by her, yet again. _Did she really just growl?_ He thought, _I should be the one growling here._ This small girl seemed full of surprises.

"Look if you want some answers, find out what your 'friends' really do on Saturday nights," Inuyasha told her. He tried to move past her but she would not let him past. Then he put his hands on her waist, startling her this time.

"W-what are you doing?" Kagome practically yelled at him, though she faltered slightly and her cheeks began turning pink.

He physically picked her up and moved her out of his way then let her go. As he began to walk away again, he called back to her, "if you still have question after that, then you can come and ask them."

As he left, Kagome sunk down against the wall, still faintly blushing, though her mind wandered. Again with the Saturday night deal. Exactly what did Miroku and Sango do on Saturday nights? If Inuyasha knew about it, she doubted they had any kind of relationship. But then what could it be? She could ask them about it, but she doubted they would answer her questions. That meant she would have to find out on her own. Why were there so many unanswered questions?

When he reached the door to the outside and was about to leave, Kagome called to him, "oh, and Inuyasha?"

He stiffened then turned to the girl, now sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She smiled sweetly at him, though he wasn't sure if the smile was fake or not.

"It's Kagome."

With that he left the school and if anyone had passed by him, they wold have seen a slight smile on his face.

* * *

Kagome continued to sit on the floor for the whole of first period, drowning in her own confusion and that's how Sango found her later. She picked up Kagome's bag, which had been so nicely kicked aside by the other students trampling by, and brought it to her, helping her up, off the ground. She could tell her friend was out of it so she guided her to the gym class. 

The official gym class would not start until the next week, so all they had to do was sit in the gym for the entire period, doing pretty much whatever they wanted to. The school year always started on a Wednesday, giving the students three days to settle into their class, so after picking what they wanted to do on the first day, they did not have to start archery until the next day they had gym which would be sometime next week.

Some of the students took out basketballs and started playing, but Kagome and Sango sat in one of the corners, away from the action. Kagome still had not said anything since Sango found her and Sango was worried. When Miroku joined them on the floor Sango finally spoke to Kagome.

"Hmm?" Kagome said. She knew Sango had just said something, but she had not really been paying attention.

"I said, are you okay?" Sango asked, seeming really worried.

"What? Oh, I'm fine. Why would you think anything's wrong?"

"Aside from the fact that a basketball hit you on the head a while back and you didn't so much as flinch?"

"Maybe the basketball gave her brain damage," Miroku added helpfully.

She did not even bother sending him a dirty look, but continued, "Well, you didn't go to your first class either. You were just sitting out there."

"Oh, that's because I got there really late so I decided there was really no point of me going in at all," Kagome lied.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Kagome felt a twinge of guilt. She had not told Sango what happened outside the department store or anything about the attackers at all, nor did she want to. She had not planned on telling either of them but they looked so worried…

Sango could see Kagome was lost in thought again and said sharply, "it wasn't Inuyasha, was it?"

"No!" Kagome said a little too quickly.

Sango narrowed her eyes and continued, "because I know he's in your first period class and…" she trailed off.

"Well, we were talking outside…" Kagome confided in her.

"I knew it!" Sango cut her off. "What did he say?"

"Well… ah…"

"You should stay away from him, Kagome," Sango told her vehemently.

Suddenly she was angry. "You're gone two months and your back three days and see how you're already treating me! Look, you're not my mother, so stop acting like her!" Kagome yelled at her, standing up abruptly.

Her cheeks burned red at her outburst. Her two friends looked shocked at her. Kagome stormed away, out of the gym, feeling a little ashamed of her outburst, but, wait, no, she should not be the one feeling ashamed. They were the ones that were to over-protective. To think she couldn't talk to one guy, one guy that had happened to have saved her life or at least from being kidnapped. And they were the ones keeping secrets from her. Why did she have to be the one that was ashamed?

She felt someone grab her arm as she stomped down the hall. She winced inwardly because he had grabbed onto her wounded arm. She whirled around to see Miroku and Sango not far behind him. She was fuming with anger but Miroku's words calmed her down, just like they always did.

"We're just worried about you," Miroku said gently, letting go of her arm when he was sure she would not leave. "That Inuyasha kid, he's… well, he's a punk, a troublemaker. We're your friends and we don't want to see you get hurt, that's all."

At Miroku's soft words her anger faded completely.

"Now what did Inuyasha say to you?" Miroku questioned, soothingly.

She felt her anger try to raise again, but she forced it down. She shifted nervously before answering.

"Nothing, I swear. I just was thanking him for… helping me the other day, that's all," Kagome lied. She had learned at an early age that the best lies were mostly truth. "Really, he's not such a bad guy." Though Kagome wasn't sure how much truth was in that statement. Sure he had saved her, but it took him a while to admit to that, and he did keep calling her names. There was also the rumor that he beat up the other students, but Kagome still thought he had a good heart buried somewhere inside him. "I'll see you later, alright? I think I'll spend the rest of the period in the library."

With a quick wave, they watched Kagome scamper off, but she did not seem like her normal perky self that day. Her outburst in the gym had proved that. Normally she would have kidded around with Sango, not yelled at her.

"She had a bandage on her arm," Sango told Miroku when Kagome was out of sight and hearing.

"So you noticed that too, huh?"

Sango shrugged. "It made the sleeve of her shirt look bulky. Her own bandaging work, no doubt."

"I didn't see it more as felt it when I grabbed her arm. She flinched too when I touched it."

"You have a real problem with touching people," she said sternly, though a small smile was on her face.

"Only when it comes to beautiful women." His own smile grew when he saw hers widen. Then he turned serious again. "About that bandage…"

"Inuyasha's work?"

"Probably."

Sango sighed, then glared at him. "I told you we should have killed him a long time ago."

He glared right back at her. "Are you insane? Do you want to die?"

"I thought you said he was only a half—" She stopped short when a group of girls passed by them, whispering and giggling as they passed Miroku. Sango continued, hesitantly, "only a half out of…er… a whole idiot."

When the girls were gone, Miroku gave her a look of pure pity. "Nice cover up."

"I panicked and it was the first thing that came to mind!" she snapped back. "Anyway, you said he was only a half-demon."

"He is, but he's still more powerful than some full ones we've fought before."

Sango huffed. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Don't underestimate him. It could get you killed if you decide to fight him."

She glowered at him. "Don't you mean when we fight him?"

"No, I mean you. I'm not fighting that hanyou." She scowled at him and he continued, "if and I mean _if _we find evidence that it was really him hurting Kagome, then I'll go hunt him with you, but otherwise I'm _not_ fighting him."

"Coward," she spat at him.

"But I'm a handsome coward, aren't I?"

Sango shook her head and walked back into the gym so that she could focus her energy somewhere where it could be useful, like playing basketball.

"Yes, and I also like my arms where they are, attached to my body!" he called after her.

* * *

The rest of Kagome's day was normal, the outburst not forgotten, but put aside. Sango did not seem hurt by her yelling at her so Kagome did not bring it up again. She really did not feel that she was the one that needed to apologize anyway. 

The day quickly fell into night and the three of them went to see a movie, which was Miroku's idea. Sango agreed to go on one condition: that Kagome sat between them, seeing that she did not trust Miroku next to her. Miroku looked disappointed at this and said, "Now you ruined the whole plan!" With some eye rolling and giggling from the girls—though the giggling was mostly Kagome—they sat through a new movie that had opened that day.

They walked home together, talking about the movie, but during the walk home Kagome seemed edgy. At first they did not notice but she got quieter and quieter as they continued walking.

What they did not know was how frightened she was. She kept reliving the events of the night only two days ago. In every alley she thought someone would jump out at her and attack her and her friends. She did not want to put them in danger, but she figured they could handle themselves. Surely the "boss" of her five attackers was still out to get her and that knowledge made her nervous. She crept closer to Miroku and Sango, hoping desperately that they would not ask about her obvious uneasiness.

They did not ask, but they did often look over at her, concerned. What had happened to make her so jumpy? Maybe someone had tried to mug her and that was how she got the wound on her arm. That strange thought comforted Sango. She'd rather have it be a mugger than a demon. So maybe it wasn't Inuyasha. Or maybe it was Inuyasha who jumped her. Sango opened her mouth to ask but found Miroku's hand clasped over it before she could even take in a breath to start talking with. He shook his head and she mumbled some angry words at him. Kagome was too preoccupied to take notice.

They walked Kagome all the way home and it was obvious the relief on her face as she walked up her driveway. Sango offered to stay with her but she firmly declined, which troubled Sango further. Normally when Sango came back after being away, they both jumped at the chance to spend more time together. Kagome refusal had hurt her deeply.

Kagome felt another surge of guilt when she saw her best friend's crestfallen face but walked away into the safety of her house without saying a word nonetheless. If Sango stayed, she would have noticed her odd attitude and her wounded arm and she might start asking questions. At the moment, Kagome did not want to answer any questions, she had too many of her own.

* * *

Saturday morning turned into Saturday afternoon and Saturday night was approaching quickly. Kagome still did not know what to do. She wanted to find out what her two close friends did on this night, she knew that much. The question was: How? She could not ask; they'd avoid the question. So that left only one choice in her mind. She would have to follow them. 

Even though she was frightened of what creatures might lurk in the shadows of the night, she was determined to go anyway. If Sango and Miroku were out there, it would be safe for her too right? Right.

Kagome changed into an all black outfit. This way she could follow them without worrying that they might see a bright pink shirt in the middle of all the darkness if Kagome had worn her normal attire. Instead of going downstairs and having to tell her mother where she was going, she climbed out her window and onto a tree that grew right next to it. Extremely convenient for escaping out of your room at night, right? She then proceeded in climbing down the branches and made a dash for Sango's house.

* * *

She must have been hiding behind the bushes in front of Sango's house for hours. And it must have definitely been past midnight. If Inuyasha was just playing with her, she was going to give him a piece of her mind on Monday. But she had also heard Sango and Miroku talk about it too so there must have been something going on. 

Kagome was about to give up when she saw Miroku walk up to her house and wait for her outside. Sango came out sometime later and they gave there usually greeting, a flirtatious phrase here, a slap there, and they were down to business.

_I can practically hear the Mission Impossible music,_ she thought dryly.

What she did notice was that neither were wearing anything people wore on a date, so scratch that idea, though Kagome had already thought that it was something other than a date. Instead, they were both wearing dark clothing. Sango's clothes were pretty much skin tight which she could tell Miroku appreciated as he walked somewhat behind her. Kagome rolled her eyes as she watched them move toward a shed in the back of Sango's yard. It was locked so she took out a key a opened it. Was Kagome seeing things, or was there a flash of blue light? Anyway, the two walked into the shed and both came out with an item that she gaped at.

Sango came out holding a huge boomerang and Miroku came out… with a staff? What the hell was going on here! They were just going to walking around town carrying an over-sized boomerang and a staff? Miroku even looked like some kind of priest from centuries ago with the strange metal staff he held. Though she doubted anyone else normal would notice since the only people out at this late a night were thugs, drug dealers, prostitutes, and those kind of people. She doubted any of those people would comment on seeing two teens walking around with weird objects in their hands looking like they had just jumped out of some time portal from the past.

She followed them as they walked farther into the town. What were they looking for? And why did they have those weird weapons? If Miroku's staff was even a weapon. Why not just beat them off anybody off with a stick or a lead pipe or something? Then Kagome stiffened. Were they going to fight someone?

They never seemed to notice that Kagome was following them though. She saw Sango point to a building, silently, and Miroku nodded. This was it! She was going to find out what they did, she just knew it.

Then she felt someone hit her over the head, hard. She slumped to the floor unconscious before she had time to even call out for help. The two demons came out of the shadows and snickered at their prize.

"Come on Manten, bring her along. Our boss will be happy to know we found her," Hiten said. He looked around to see what the girl had been following and saw with interest the two human. "And a bonus too. We'll finally be able to kill those two demon hunters everyone's looking for."

* * *

Someone was poking her over and over again. _Annoying little brother_, she thought, _let me sleep s'more_. The poking stopped and she was thankfully. Now she could go back to sleep. Someone then began to stroke her hair over and over again. It was really annoying. 

Then her memories flooded in and she jerked up to a sitting position fast, which was really hard, considering the fact that her hands were bound together and so were her feet. She recalled someone knocking her unconscious. She looked around, noticing they were in an abandoned building somewhere. Kagome also saw two men around her, a skinny one and a fat one, although the fat one looked hardly human, but what was she thinking? If he was not human, what else could he be?

The round one sat down next to her. He had been the one stroking her head and she shifted away from him only to find herself closer to the other one who towered over her. He had been the one poking her with the tip of his shoe.

"So you're awake, wench," the tall, skinny one said, "I was beginning to think I had killed you."

"Still alive," Kagome grumbled, rubbing the back of her head. She was relieved that there was no blood like last time.

"I don't think I told you you could speak," the tall one said. He nodded to the other one. "Manten."

Manten moved away from the girl, sulkily. Sparks came out of each of the other man's fingertips on the one hand. He gestured toward Kagome and the spark turned into tiny lightning bolts that made their way toward Kagome. It only took an instant for the lightning to leave his hand and shock her. She yelped at the pain as all five hit her at once. The force of the blow sent her sprawling back onto the ground. The slimmer one laughed at her pain. She was getting tried of people doing that.

"Now we only have to wait for the demon hunters to arrive," he said.

"Don't fret little one, the others will be here soon," the man, Manten, told her softly as he ran a hand through her hair again.

"What are you?" Kagome said, her voice barely a whisper.

"We're demons, of course," the other, slimmer one said.

"Demons…?" Kagome said, not real believing it.

"Yes, are you sick in the head? We're demons. You know, the things that people think are evil and all have little horns and tails," the slimmer one said like he was talking to a stupid child.

"But—"

"But demons don't exist?" He laughed. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, wench. I'm shocked this is coming from you though. Everyone says that you, one little human girl, has so much power that she could upset the balance of good and evil… really the balance between the humans and demons."

"What?"

"Yes, it's said if you join us, the demons, we would have great power again. We would be in control of everything, just like it was in the old days, and all the humans would fear us, tremble at our power."

"But I can't…"

"Of course you can't. Not yet anyway. No one ever told you how to harness and use your powers. Those two were sent to protect you…"

"Those two…?" Kagome whispered, a lump developing in her throat. She had a feeling she knew what was happening. It was all coming together now.

"Now don't tell me you didn't know?" He laughed at her blank expression. "Oh, this is rich. You are such an ignorant human wench! Those two that follow you everywhere you go? Don't you think it's odd that they're always with you? That you hardly ever go anywhere without them? Those two, the boy and the girl you were following, were sent here to this town to look after you. You're just an object they have to protect from us demons. That's why they're always out together killing demons wherever they find them." He laughed once again. "And you never knew?"

Kagome shook her head slightly, making the demon laugh more.

How could she be some dumb! That's why Sango and Miroku were so over-protective of her. She was just something they needed to protect from demons. She was an item that they sheltered so she wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. It made sense now why they were so worried about her in school. They thought Inuyasha might get hold of her and hurt her. Inuyasha. His words came back to her then. _Real protective "friends" you got here_. And how they had both stiffened at the remark. They had been worried she would have found out and gotten mad at them and if she was mad at them, they'd have trouble doing their… their _job._ Why did she have to be so stupid!

She felt the tears coming and tried to force them away but it was no use. The other, larger demon continued to stroke her hair. "Don't cry. With such beautiful hair as yours, you shouldn't cry," he shushed her.

"Stop touching me!" Kagome cried out at him, turning her sorrow into anger. She was pretty sure that demon was nuts or just had a really bad obsession with hair.

That only made him stroke harder. Kagome yelped and struggled against the ropes that bound her hands and feet.

"Manten, stop it," the other demon snapped, "we don't want to damage the poor idiot. After all, she could restore our world to what it was like centuries ago. Remember, Manten? All the demons ruling over the humans and the magicks that everyone used. Humans now days are too stupid to rule over us for much longer. You're a perfect example of this, girl. She don't deserve to live so freely and carefree."

He suddenly got angry as if finally realizing his own words and slapped across the face, so hard Kagome tasted blood, which she immediately spit on the demon Manten. Manten screeched and reached for her but the other picked her up by her collar first and held her in the air, her feet dangling uselessly. The words he spat at her were words of anger.

"The human don't even remember us. They use to throw themselves at our feet in fear and now they don't even remember! Every time they see anything related to a demon they make up their own lame excuse. But with you, we will teach them the meaning of fear again."

He transferred her to his other hand, this time his hand going around her throat and he began to squeeze. Kagome gasped for air and found none. She began choking, turning a blue color.

"It's your fault, all your race's fault," he hissed at her between gritted teeth.

"Hiten, I thought you said not to damage—" Manten whined.

Hiten gave her throat one last tight squeeze and roughly threw her to the floor. Since her hands were tied behind her back, her arms could not take most of the blunt force of the fall, causing her head to bang hard against the floor. She cried out again, though she tried to muffle it, as to try not to make Hiten any angrier.

Meanwhile she was trying to figure out how she was going to get out of her dilemma. She did not want to stay with the two brother demons to bring down the whole human race, thank you very much. She could wait for Sango and Miroku to save her, but she suddenly did not want to trust them anymore. Everything she knew about them to this point was based on a lie and probably more lies on top of that. Did Sango even have a brother or a mom or did she go to some demon training camp during the summer? How was she supposed to know? She felt like she did not even know her friends anymore. They seemed like strangers to her now. All her thoughts surrounding her turned bitter. Unless it wasn't true… but how could it not be? She had heard them talking before, hints of demons her and there, but she had disregarded it. Boy, she was an idiot.

So how was she suppose to get out of the mess she got herself into? Kagome doubted Inuyasha would come to save her this time. He had probably had no idea where she was, and even if he did, she was not sure if he would come anyway. Then something struck her. One of the men who attacked her two days prior, or she guessed, they were the demons who attacked her, when using their actually title, anyway, one of the demons that had attacked her had called Inuyasha a hanyou. Did that mean… that Inuyasha was in fact a half demon? Woah, now there was a thought. It did explain why he never interacted with the other students though.

"There are demons everywhere in this town, there are demons all over the world, that disguise themselves as humans, either to lure humans into their homes so they can kill them or because some of them try to fit in. So they act like humans and after a while even think they're humans. There's even a gang of boys at your school that's really a gang of demons. Those are the lower class demons, but our blood runs thin with every century that passes. More demons give up the killing and try to fit in with the humans! It's insanity! There are hardly any pure blooded demons anymore. There are a lot of people out there who have demon blood in them and don't even know it because their ancestries never told anyone. It's disgusting really how we try to fit into your world, how we have to accommodate ourselves because the human dominate this world. But some demons can't even disguise themselves because they don't look human at all, like Manten. He can't even go out in the daylight without people screaming and running around like the idiots they are. Not that we mind a little fear, but chaos would ensue and we'd end up dead by all those guns you like to use now days with nothing accomplished." He paused looking down at her. "That's why we need you. You can change the world to what it use to be like."

There was silence for a few minutes while Kagome took in all the information that he just said. There were demons all over disguised as humans? So anyone could be a demon. The students at the school, the people she worked with, her friends, even her father could have been part demon and she would never know.

"So, wench, do you want to join us in destroying the humans?" Hiten asked to her still body on the ground.

She could not say yes, because they wouldn't believe her if she did and she just would not let herself say it, even if it would keep her hurt-free, but she could not say no either, because they would proceed to beat her until she said what they wanted to hear. So Kagome kept silent. Which turned out not to be a good choice either. She just could not win.

"Answer when I ask you a question!" Hiten yelled and proceeded in kicking her in the stomach as she twisted and cringed at every kick.

Still she did not answer. Manten pulled her up by her hair and she screamed in agony.

"NO!" she screamed, "no, I won't help you!"

So much for being silent. Hiten paused for a second then slapped her across the face again, bringing the metallic taste of blood back into her mouth. Manten dropped her on the floor and then they both decided to kick the rag doll that was Kagome.

She felt tears sting her eyes as she lost hope of anyone saving her.

* * *

"Come on, this way. I can feel a demon's presence. It's strong too," Miroku said as they both ran toward the abandoned building Miroku could feel evil vibes from. 

Sango felt her breath beginning to labor but kept on running. They had already exterminated four demons that night and her adrenaline rush was beginning to fade, leaving her exhausted. She hoped the demon that they found would be killed easily because she was too tired for a long fight.

When they reached the building, Sango kicked in the door, her boomerang ready to attack. Only silence and darkness greeted them as both walked warily into the room. Suddenly bright lights were turned on, blinding the two for a few minutes. If the enemy had attacked then, they would have been easily dead, but the demons did not attack. But that was the thing with demons, they all had big egos. They loved to talk and taunt their "prey" before they attacked. That's why that had not attacked her and Miroku yet.

Sango thought she heard someone moan in pain, but it sounded distant. Was someone in here besides the demon? Or was she imagining things? Her mind could have been playing tricks on her as her energy level lowered.

A demon stepped into the room, his power crackling through the air, not so much that she could see it more like feel it. Miroku beside her went into an immediate defense position, his senses being more keen to the demon's evil aura.

Sango looked the demon over again. Her pulse sped up and her adrenaline rush came back to her. She recognized the demon from a previous meeting and remembered him as Hiten.

"Why thank you for coming," Hiten said, "I wouldn't want you to be late for your own funeral."

Then the darkness was back, making them have to readjust their eyes once again. It was as if they wanted them to know what the faces of their killer would be, but other than that, they wanted the darkness in their fighting arena.

Another demon stalked out of the shadows from the now dark room to stand next to Hiten. Manten was his name, Sango remembered. She had been the one to give Manten the scar that was on his left cheek. That had been when she was eleven and she had first arrived in this town. She had barely escaped alive that night. But now… now she was ready for them.

Forgetting to even warn Miroku about their lightning, Sango ran at them with a battle cry.

* * *

Kagome could hardly move, the pain was too much. She did not think anything was broken, but if she lived through the night, which she probably would seeing that the demons wanted her alive, she would have a hell of a lot of bruises tomorrow. She was bleeding too, but they were only minor wounds, especially compared with the wound she had gotten on her arm only days ago. 

She observed Miroku and Sango as they fought the two demons. Sango seemed extremely violent, practically screaming bloody murder, as she attacked Manten. Was this the side of her Kagome had never seen before? Was she always this violent when she fought?

Sango threw her boomerang at him, but he dodged it and opened his mouth to send a huge lightning bolt her way. She had a quick choice; she could either get hit by the lightning and catch her weapon when it returned, or dodge and let the boomerang fly who knows where and not sure whether she'd be able to recover it again. She chose to get hit by his attack and grabbed her weapon as it flew back to her. She flew backward and slammed into the wall behind her with a cry when the lightning bolt hit her. Kagome cringed when she saw this, even though it hurt her to move. The lightning that Manten had flung at Sango was a lot bigger then what Hiten used to shock Kagome, and even that small shock had hurt her. She could not imagine the pain Sango was going through.

Miroku was having enough trouble on his own. His staff was not really an attack weapon, more of a defensive weapon. He had it out like you would a wooden staff, and blocked each of Hiten's attacks. Once and a while he managed to hit Hiten somewhere with the end of his staff, but at best the attack would bruise the demon. Hiten laughed at his attempt and continued to yell insults at him.

She saw Sango call out something to Miroku and he went down on the ground. Sango used her weapon and flung it first at Manten. He did not see it coming and it ended up slicing him in two, both halves of him sliding to the floor in a bloody mess. Hiten, struck with grief and anger, made his way toward Sango, and Miroku let him go. Unknown to the demon, the boomerang was making it's way back to it's owner. As Hiten ran at Sango in rage, the weapon went right through his neck, beheading him. His body spasm for a moment, then fell to the floor right next to his brother's.

And just like that the two, what she thought had been her two best friends, killed the demons.

Before she was not sure if she wanted to believe Hiten's words, but just seeing them fight, she knew it was true. They weren't really her friends. They were only in her town because they had to be, because they were told to be.

Kagome felt her vision fade like it had done days ago and she had a nagging feeling she was going to pass out again. She closed her eyes, waiting for darkness to come.

"Hey there's someone over here!" Miroku called to Sango.

They both moved to where Kagome was hardly conscious on the floor as she opened her eyes lazily to gaze upon them. She was covered in darkness but as they moved closer they began to recognize her. They saw the normally cheerful girl they both knew bound by ropes, her hands tied together, and her feet as well. Wounds and bruises were littered all over her small, frail form.

"Oh god," Miroku murmured and made what she could only assume was a sign against evil.

"Kagome!" Sango cried out and knelt beside her wounded friend. She touched Kagome's arm tentatively and Kagome jerked out of her grasp. Sango thought it was because she had hurt her by touching one of her wounds and was about to give her any apology when she heard Kagome's final words before she passed out.

"Traitors," Kagome muttered faintly.

Sango visibly paled at her comment, the blood draining from her face while Miroku's eyes widened.

And then darkness engulfed her once again.

* * *

A/N: now you got to remember Kagome was half out of it when she witnessed the first fight of this chapter so that's why their views on what happened are a little different. Not much different, but a little. It's late and I'm tired now. You know you're tired when you think confusement is a word… 


	3. Chapter 3: Betrayed

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Inuyasha or anything related to any movies or shows etc. I pretty much own nothing.

* * *

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In a World of Demons

Chapter 3: Betrayed

* * *

"Another failed attempt?" he yelled at his demon servant. 

The servant cringed at his master's voice. "I—I'm sorry, milord, b-but the human girl seems to be s-strong…"

That got his master's interest. "Has she used her powers yet?"

"N-no, we… we don't think so."

"Then how does she keep dodging and killing all of our demons!" he yelled.

"The girl has most powerful friends, my lord."

His evil smile tugged at his lips, the smile that always made his servants nervous. "Then we should take her friends out first, shouldn't we?" He eyes locked on the chessboard in front of him. He picked up the white King and began toying with it. "It is just like a game of chess, isn't it? The King is what you need to aim at, though he, or in this case she, is one of the weakest pieces, but is protected the most. So all we need to do is take out all her pawns and other pieces and…"

He did not finish his sentence but his actions spoke loud enough for him. He squeezed the white King that had been in his hand and then opened his hand again, letting the white dust fall to the ground.

* * *

Kagome found herself blinking over and over again, looking at the ceiling of her room. She did not want to move because moving meant pain. Last night's events were still blurry to her when she woke up, much like the time before. It was becoming a habit with her, waking up in her own room with cuts and scraps trying to remember the events of the previous night, although she would not call it a good habit. 

Looking down at herself she saw all her wounds had been tended to by someone who knew what they were doing. Inuyasha…? But, no, he had not been there, she recalled. There had been the two demons, Manten and Hiten, and Sango and Miroku had showed up and saved her. Something else about them was nagging at her but what?

"Hey, she's awake," she heard Sango's voice say.

Sango had pulled one of her chairs out and placed it next to her bed, which she was now sitting on watching her with concern. Miroku, who had been leaning against her wall, half-asleep, perked up at Sango's words. He offered her a small smile when her gaze fell on him.

"How do you feel?" he asked gently.

Everything Hiten had told her the night before crashed into her mind. Everything he said from beginning to end came back to her, all the things she had thought were there in an instant. She wished it was all gone that he could take it all back. Kagome did not want to know it, but it was true. She had seen them fight and in that instance she found out the whole truth of his words.

"Betrayed," Kagome said flatly. She turned away from Sango to face the wall, not caring that it hurt her to move. She stared at it dully. "I feel betrayed."

"Kagome I—" Sango began.

"No," Kagome interrupted. Her voice was hardly a whisper but was still forcefully. "I don't want to hear any lame excuse. Please… just leave…"

"If you'll just let us explain…" Miroku said as he stood up straight and began to walk toward Kagome.

"I said just LEAVE!" Kagome yelled hoarsely.

She sat up in her bed even though her head pounded and her body protested after doing such. Ignoring it and the stiffness in her legs, she jumped up out of her bed. Miroku hastily put a hand on Sango's back, ushering her out of the room quickly, despite Sango's protests.

"We'll come back at another time," Miroku told her.

Miroku closed the door firmly behind them, drowning out the on-going protests of Sango. Kagome sunk back onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow, wishing everything she had learned in the past few days would go away.

It all made perfect sense, didn't it? Why all her classmates were skittish around her, but Miroku and Sango never were. That was because they _had_ to be around her; they were told to, no, probably ordered to. They never really wanted to be her friend in the first place or wanted to move to her town at all. Everything she knew about them was fake. Everything that they had done together was fake. They weren't _really_ her friends. They just wanted to use her like everyone else in the world, like all the demons that were after her. She did not know them at all.

They hadn't been there a few minutes ago because they were concerned for her, not really. They were concerned that their charge had gotten hurt and they would be in trouble for it. She was just some assignment to them.

Kagome sobbed into the pillow, clutching it tightly in a death grip. Maybe if she fell asleep when she woke up it would have all been a dream. Yeah, that would have been nice. Too bad it wasn't going to happen.

* * *

Kagome did not go to school that Monday or Tuesday. Miroku had told her mom that she had gotten jumped when she went out Saturday night so Kagome's mom did not press her to go to school, thinking that she might be suffering internally after being attacker. Well, she was close enough. Kagome guessed the only reason Miroku had told her mom anything was because she probably would have been suspicious concerning all the wounds all over Kagome's body. 

Some of the bruises and all the cuts had faded by that Wednesday, but some bruises were too large to go away so quickly. It was amazing to think that all of this had started just one week ago. If she could only go back in time…. She shook her head at the thought. It would not have made her problems go away, it would just have delayed them. She would have had to find out about it some time, it was inevitable.

The school uniform's shirt was long sleeved so it covered all of her injuries on her upper body but the space between her short skirt and her long socks left some bruises to be noticed, but that problem was unavoidable. She sighed inwardly. People would be too busy noticing the long black and blue that went across her left cheek to notice the ones on her legs anyway.

Sango had called her each day, trying to get Kagome to talk to her. Each time Kagome plainly refused to speak, telling her mom to hang up the phone. Kagome's mom complied, giving Sango a bogus excuse of why Kagome could not come to the phone. Kagome just really did not want to talk to either of her "friends" any time soon.

She walked to school that Wednesday morning alone. She was not sure where Sango was, but she did want some space away from her at the moment. Kagome was relieved when she did not meet her at all on the way to school. Another positive thought, instead of gym that day she had double science so she could avoid Sango even longer. As long as she avoided her in the halls, she could pretend she was absorbed in the lesson during class, and then she would not have to talk with her for the whole duration of the day. On that bright note she headed toward her first period class.

"Miss Higurashi, thank you for finally joining us again," the teacher said dryly. That was right, she had not been to science since the first day of school when she really had not made a good impression at all. The teacher seemed like he might have made another smart remark when he noticed the bruise on her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kagome mumbled. She quickly arranged her hair so that it covered the left side of her face, but she knew it would not stay there for long. He gave her a partly concerned look and went back to taking attendance.

It seemed the teacher had made some sort of seating arrangement while she was not there and had put her all the way in the back corner, as far away from his desk as possible, probably on purpose. Normally, she might have cared or been offended, but she did not feel at all normal that day.

To her luck or misfortune, she was not sure which yet, Inuyasha sat in the next row over, across from her. She quickly took her seat and immediately began to space out, not paying attention to anything around her.

Inuyasha noticed the bruise on her cheek at once. He frowned, wondering where she could have gotten it from. It obviously had something to do with her being absent for two days prior. Just what happened exactly? When they were into their second period of science, he decided to ask.

"Hey, wench," Inuyasha called. He noticed her wince at his words and he wondered why. He had called her it many times before. Since when did she care?

Kagome grimaced as he called her wench. It brought up too many memories from her latest encounter with the demon world. Wench was what the demon Hiten had called her over and over again

"What?" she asked sharply.

"What did you do to yourself?"

"You think I did this to myself!"

"You know what I mean."

"And what if I don't?"

"Just answer the damn question! You know what? Never mind, I don't care anymore."

"Good, because I didn't feel like telling you anyway."

Silence.

"Where did you get the damn bruise?" Inuyasha exclaimed.

They had been whispering back and forth in furious whispers but Inuyasha had forgotten himself and exclaimed his last question. Kagome felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment as the teacher glared at the two. When the teacher finally went back to dictating his lesson, Kagome whispered to him fiercely, "you are so infuriating!"

"Oh so now we're bringing out the big words…"he stopped himself from saying wench, after seeing how it hurt her last time and added, "…baka."

"Baka's not a big word. You obviously can't reach my level of sophistication," Kagome responded. She flipped her hair back behind her shoulder and sat up straight trying to act sophisticated while pretending to listen to the teacher's lesson. She paused, then decided to stick her tongue out at him, ruining the mature act for a moment, then returning to it.

Inuyasha could not help but feel his lips quiver as they tried to turn into a smile, but he did not want to give her the satisfaction.

"So, what happened?"

"why should I tell you?"

"…Because I'm such a charming guy…?" From the look on her face he continued feigning to be offended, "…no?"

Kagome could not help it; she began to giggle helplessly. He had looked so adorable as he said it….

Inuyasha was not the only one who noticed her laughing; the teacher reeled around to face the girl.

"Miss Higurashi, if you're not going to pay attention, then maybe you shouldn't come back at all," the teacher told her sternly.

Inuyasha watched as the girl was shushed by the teacher and how she meekly returned to paying attention. When she had walked into the room she had seemed so depressed and their were shadows on her face. He was glad he could get her out of that gloomy attitude. He cherished her laugh and her smile as she offered

them to him so freely. No one had ever done that before, especially after knowing what he was. But this girl, she knew, or at least he was pretty sure she did, and yet she still smiled at him and teased him. She was not afraid.

Then he noticed other bruises up and down her legs where her uniform could not cover them. They must have caused her a hell of a lot of pain while getting them. Now thinking about it, he remembered how she winced as she sat down and shifted in her seat. Just how many bruises did she have?

He leaned over in his seat, his hand stretched out in front of him. He tucked her hair behind her ear on the side of the bruise and let his hand cup her cheek gently, careful not to press on the black and blue. He had acted without even realizing what he was doing. Kagome just stared at him with wide eyes.

"How did you get all those bruises?" he asked her softly.

The bell that ended second period rang and all the people in the room, including the teacher, walked out of the classroom. Kagome and Inuyasha hadn't moved an inch. Kagome could feel his warm breath on her skin and a warm feeling spread throughout her, starting in her lower body and rushing throughout the rest of her.

"I've got to go," Kagome said hurriedly, breaking the long silence between them. She stood up and gathered her books, ignoring the pain that came with moving too swiftly. She could feel Inuyasha eyes on her back and all she wanted to do was get out of there as fast as possible.

He watched her rush out of the room, mentally cursing himself. Why was he letting himself get so close to a human anyway? He shouldn't care about any of them, so he shouldn't have cared where the girl got those nasty bruises from. For a few minutes though, he had forgotten himself. He forgot that he was a hanyou and that she was a human girl. A human girl that every demon in town wanted to get their hands on. Getting mixed up with her would get him killed.

* * *

Kagome had been able to avoid Miroku and Sango all throughout the morning and the hope that she wouldn't have to see them all day increased. They finally found her in the hallway between fifth and sixth, though, and there was no way she could avoid them any longer. The only way she could get away from them was if she started sprinting down the hallway, and that would make it a little obvious she was dodging them. 

"Hey Kagome," Sango said warily as they approached, as if she were a rabid dog about to break loose.

"Hi," was her faint reply. She gritted her teeth. She would at least try to act normal.

"How are you doing?" Miroku ask her, "are you okay?"

"How would you like it if you woke up one day to find out you lived in demon infested land?" Kagome asked, annoyed, then paused, thinking that that was what might have happened to her and added hastily, "don't answer that."

To just wake up one day and find out that people she knew weren't really people at all but could be demons. To find out that the gang of boys at school was a gang of demons not humans?

"So are all towns like this or what?" Kagome asked, trying to be conversational, though the conversation couldn't be any weirder.

The two exchanged glance behind her back. Had she forgiven them so easily?

Miroku was the one that answered. "No, there are a lot of towns that don't have any demons at all. They usually go for crowded cities where the number of dead bodies of humans can be great because it wouldn't be as suspiciously. No, these demons are here because they fell a great power here. You, to be exact."

"So I'm responsible for all the demons here. All the people they kill…?" Kagome tried to take in all the information she had just received, including other things she had heard over the past couple of days. The demons were here because of her. So everyone they killed, was dead all because of her.

"Well, yeah—" Miroku began but was interrupted by Sango, who elbowed him in the stomach.

"No! The killing isn't your fault! They'd follow you wherever you would go…" Sango stopped, realizing that what she said had not helped one bit, it only made her feel worse.

Miroku rolled his eyes and he massaged his temples with one hand and spoke sarcastically, "Oh, yes. That's _much_ better then what I said…"

No matter where Kagome went, she would bring death to innocent people because she happened to live in the same town. The demons would follow her no matter what and she would bring ugly death to people just because she gave off energy she could not even control. Demons would inhabit towns near her and kill people for food or torture or whatever they did with people. All because of her. It was her fault.

Miroku and Sango stopped arguing realizing something was wrong. Kagome usually laughed or smiled at their arguments but not this time.

"Kagome?" Sango asked worriedly.

"I have to go now," Kagome said hurriedly.

"But we have class…" Sango saw that she was not even paying attention. "Then I'll go with you."

"No!" Kagome cried out suddenly. A few people turned to stare and Kagome blushed at her outburst. More quietly she said, "please, I'd like to be on my own right now."

She couldn't do it. She could not act normal around them when they had lied to her for so long… but she needed to find out if what the demon had said was true and the only person she could ask was Inuyasha. Funny, how he seemed to be the only one with the answers to all her questions.

Sango was about to protest but Miroku shook his head and led her towards their classroom, leaving Kagome behind. Kagome wandered aimlessly throughout the hallway, lost in thought, until she found herself outside, blinking at the bright sun.

No matter what she couldn't stop thinking about it being her fault. The thought of it made her sick. Every person that was ever found dead or missing, that could have been her fault. Everyone who died… her dad even. At that thought, she felt her knees weaken and Kagome ran into someone, making her stumble slightly.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she heard a familiar voice snap at her.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled without looking at who she had bumped into.

When the guy sneered, that was when Kagome looked up. Her breath caught in her throat. Even though the sun was in her face, the silver hair and amber eyes… it was none other than Inuyasha. Inuyasha, the half demon-half human boy, the hanyou, the person who had completely ignored her ninety-nine percent of the time and the other one percent spent insulting her throughout all their years at the same school and, ironically, the person who saved her from either death or kidnapping, possibly both.

When she had talked to him that morning, all that information had escaped her. He was just a boy in class and she had been just a girl, but now, remembering, she felt suddenly nervous around him. It seemed he had forgotten himself too because he went back to doing what he always did when she was around, ignoring her.

He stared back at her for sometime, his amber eyes locked with her brown ones. Then with a 'feh' he walked away and sat himself under a large tree in the shade, facing away from the school. His back was up against the tree, leaning against it.

Kagome walked over hesitantly to stand near him. If he saved her, he wasn't about to hurt her now, right? At least, that's what she hoped.

"Um…" was all she could say.

Of course, all Inuyasha did was ignore her. That's all he'd done since he started going to her school in freshman year, excluding that morning but he had only talked to her because he had wanted something out of it. There was also those times last week when she had talk to him but that was because she wouldn't leave him alone until he did. So, okay, most of the time he ignored her.

She had met Inuyasha in high school, which was a first for her. Most of the new people she met she had met in middle school, but not Inuyasha. Funny how she met everyone in middle school. Then stopping to think about it, maybe it wasn't. They had sent Miroku and Sango, who's to say that they had not sent more from both sides, demon and humans? For a second the thought that Inuyasha could have been sent crossed through her mind. Then she pushed the idea away. If the demons had sent him, he would not have saved her from those other demons.

She started to get angry at him for ignoring her. Inuyasha had always disregarded her along with everyone else. He was a loner, never wanting to talk to anyone. Now knowing that he was a hanyou that made more sense to her. Did he think himself better than the rest of them? Is that why he never got to know anyone? Suddenly she got even angrier with him. Although she was not about to express her anger directly at him—at least not yet for fear of what he would do—she became braver from it.

"Don't you have class?" Kagome asked, while towering over him, her hands on her hips.

He looked up at her, finally acknowledging her presence, and raised one eyebrow. "Don't you?"

_Er… good point,_ Kagome thought silently, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Fine," Kagome said, while turning around so fast her short skirt swept around her. She should have known better then to try to talk to him. It was stupid really. He had hardly ever talked to her before, so why should he start now? Why did she even want to talk to him anyway? After all, he was a half demon. But… but he had saved her life and for some reason she thought that maybe… that maybe…

"Oh, forget it," she grumbled, not really meaning to say it out loud, as she started to stomp off.

"You don't have to leave," Inuyasha said gruffly. Not that he cared at all, he told himself, and wanting to make sure she understood that, he continued, "just because I'm here, doesn't mean you have to go. Not that I care or nothing but you can stay… as long as you don't talk at all." He added the last part hastily.

She turned around, smiling brightly and nodded in agreement which made Inuyasha wished he hadn't said anything. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea…

But all Kagome did was lay under the tree to the right of him, giving him enough space that she thought he needed but trying to still be under the tree's shade. She seemed deep in thought and true to her word, or, to be more exact, her… er… nod, she kept silent the entire time. He was almost disappointed that she did not talk. Almost.

They both sat in comfortable silence and Kagome felt more at ease sitting with him then she had in a long time since all the confusion in her life began.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of sixth period, both Inuyasha and Kagome jumped. It had been so silent and peaceful, but the bell had rung and ruined it. Kagome hastily got up and brushed the dirt off her skirt. She began to walk away, then stopped and thought better of it. She walked back to Inuyasha and got on her knees beside him. One arm she had in her lap, while the other hand was in a fist as she clutched it to her chest. He glanced at her but Kagome's bangs covered her eyes. Kagome seemed very focused on the hand in her lap anyway.

"Inuyasha?" she asked quietly.

He raised any eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

She took his silence as an invitation to speak so she went on, hesitantly, all the while fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "I… I still have… a few questions that I need some answers to."

"Feh."

She roughly translated that as a yes, please go on. Now just when could she ask him? Kagome did not want to ask him on school grounds when anyone could be listening. Again she hesitated, then said, "Um… do you remember where I live?"

He gave one sharp nod, not sure where she was going with this.

"Could you… come over? I'd rather be alone when asking them." Realizing that didn't sound quite right she continued hurriedly, "not that I want to be alone with you…" wait that didn't sound right either "…it's just I don't want to talk anywhere where we could be over heard."

"I'll come by tonight," he said curtly.

She gave him a small smile and gave her thanks also. Then she quickly scampered away into the school. Inuyasha watched her go thinking, _that girl is a strange one._

_

* * *

_

It was late that night and Kagome wasn't sure if he was coming. She paced around her room wondering if he was every going to show up. She got angry. He had stood her up! Not that it was a date or anything, but it was still offending. Oh, boy was she going to give him a piece of her mind next time she saw him…

She heard something by her window and someone jumped from outside into her room.

"Eeeeeeek!" Kagome cried out, putting seven full e's into her scream. Finding it was only Inuyasha she yelled at him, "don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack! Don't you know how to use a door!"

This time the girl wore pants and a long sleeved shirt to cover all her bruises except the one that could not be hidden on her cheek. Obviously, she did not want him to inquire about the injuries like he had that morning and how his questions had led to an awkward situation.

"_You_ said you wanted to talk in private! I figured if I went through the front door, anyone else in the house might get suspicious."

"Is that how you got me into my room last week without being noticed?"

He did not answer so she took that for confirmation.

"I thought you had real question! Now start asking them so I can go home."

"That _was_ one of my real questions!"

They had a staring contest and Inuyasha looked away first. Kagome basked in her glory, while Inuyasha stalked over to her bed and sat down on it. Kagome tried to sort out all the questions she wanted to ask him. She started with one she thought she knew the answer to, but wanted to make sure.

"So are you really a hanyou?" was her first question.

Inuyasha felt oddly disappointed. That was the reason she had been so at ease with him earlier that day. She still did not really know if he was part demon or not and now if he told her she would begin to get nervous around him and would regret asking him over. Then after that, she would never go near him again.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Inuyasha said coldly.

"Are you a certain type? Are you are dog demon or something? Because inu does mean dog so I thought maybe…" She continued to ramble on but Inuyasha did not hear her.

He fell off the bed. He actually fell off the bed. What was wrong with this girl! Didn't she have the sense to be at least a little afraid of him? He was part demon for god's sake! Although he didn't seem to realize these thought contradicted what he was thinking only moment before.

She towered over him, looking down at him as he lay on the floor. "What's your problem?"

He jumped back onto his feet. No one ever really saw this side of him before, the side that made mistakes. He was always cool and collected, that is when he wasn't angry, which was most of the time. When he did make a mistake he just ignored it but when he made a mistake around this girl he ended up doing things like falling off of beds and nearly falling over.

"Are you an idiot? Why aren't you scared!" He towered over her for a second and she swayed backwards then when she spoke she towered over him, and he was bent backward and so it went back and forth.

"Of what, you? Give me a break."

"Well, why not?"

"You haven't given me a reason why I should be!"

He made a rather comical scary face, while bringing his hands up in a claw fashion and said, "Grrrrr!"

Kagome stared blankly at him for a fraction of a second and then was on her bed, rolling with laughter.

"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled at her, but she continued to roll around, laughing. "HEY!" No response. "Stop it!" Nothing. And now he was beginning to get angrier with every time he yelled at her. "Stop laughing!" Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. "I said…" the laughter continued. "STOP!" He was furious now.

She couldn't stop laughing. He had looked so completely ridiculous and it was so funny. She had not laughed like this since that morning. The entire day what she had learned in the past week had been weighting down on her, but when she was with him… it all seemed to fade for a while. Just long enough to have a good laugh, that is.

Kagome turned to look at Inuyasha and the laughter abruptly died on her lips. It was not because he looked so angry… no, that was quite comical too, it was just… what the hell…?

Inuyasha's anger started to fade when the girl's attention turned toward him. She had stopped laughing and was now looking at him with a quizzical, bewildered look on her face. What was she looking at? She tentatively got up off the bed, her footstep light on the carpeted floor, until she stopped right in front of him. His heartbeat sped up as she leaned into him. She stood on her tippytoes and reached a hand up and… pulled at something on the top of his head. Oh, shit.

Kagome tugged at the ears on top of his head. Little, white, adorable ears. Where had they come from? She knew they had not been there before, she'd have definitely remembered something like that. Everyone who ever saw him would remember that. No, these cute ears had just appeared out of nowhere.

"Where'd these come from?" Kagome said softly in wonder, her breath warm on his skin, though she was too preoccupied to notice the effect she was having on him.

These were not the types of questions he had been expecting when he came that night. Inuyasha muttered, "sometimes when I get really angry or am under a lot of stress they just… appear, I don't know why. Then they fade whenever they feel like it."

The girl was way too close, almost embracing him, and she hardly noticed him at all, only his ears. Wasn't she suppose to be afraid of him now that she knew he was a hanyou and not start toying with his dog ears? Her eyes sparkled with delight. Her lips were only inches away from his and he was mesmerized by them and the way the smile played across her face. Her lips parted when a small giggled escaped her and her lips looked so inviting. He was frozen where he was, could not move for fear she would break the contact. He basked in the warmth of her body, only inches from his.

She smiled as she continued to tug and play with his ears, a bright smile on her face. She giggled when she brushed her hand over one of them, causing it to twitch. Kagome tried to go higher on her tiptoes but lost her balance, causing her to fall into Inuyasha. He was quick to catch her, his arms around her waist. Her face was buried in his chest and slowly, very slowly, she looked up to see Inuyasha staring down at her with a certain gleam in his eyes that she couldn't identify. One arm was now wrapped around her waist while he brought the other one up to cup her cheek like he had done that morning in class. His touch was very gently, like before, as it held the side of her face with the bruise. His head lowered, his lips coming closer and closer toward her lips and just when they were hovering over hers…

"Kagome?" her mom called through the door, "are you alright? I heard some yelling and laughing…"

God, her mom must have thought her insane, Kagome in her room yelling and laughing at herself. But she wasn't by herself. Oh, she was very sure of that…

When her mom had spoken they had jumped to opposite sides of the room so fast she was surprised one of them had not knocked something over or tripped on anything. Kagome rushed out of the room to talk to her mom, without looking at Inuyasha, just wanting to be anywhere but with him. She opened the door just enough for her to slid out of the room and then closed it again behind her.

"I'm fine, really very fine actually. Nothing's wrong…"

Okay she was not doing that well with covering up, but she was extremely flustered at the moment. She could tell her cheeks were burning, her whole face probably completely red. Her mom eyed her and the door to her room suspiciously but did not ask again. She walked away and Kagome went down to the kitchen, not yet ready to go back in her own room and face the boy inside it.

Kagome stayed down in the kitchen for a while, waiting for her crimson face to turn back to normal. Inuyasha was still in her room, probably wondering what happened to her. Inuyasha… his cute, little dog ears… then suddenly he had been so close, practically embracing her and his lips…

Kagome shook her head furiously. '_No! Don't think of the dog-boy in her room. Think of anything else _but _the dog-boy in her room _

…

It's not working!'

When she thought she was ready to face him again she went back into her bedroom. Inuyasha was sitting in her open window halfway in, halfway out the window, looking out into the night, his hair blowing in the gentle wind from outside. His long, silver hair…. The moment she came into the room he slowly turned his gaze toward her, his golden eyes fixated on her.

_Oh boy,_ Kagome thought, trying desperately to swallow the feeling that swelled up inside her.

Kagome felt at a loss for words, whatever she had been about to say dying on her lips. Then she noticed something. "Where'd your dog ears go?"

_Oh, great,_ Inuyasha thought_, now I'm in a room with a girl who only likes me because of my dog ears._

"I told you they come and go when they feel like it," Inuyasha grumbled, but he didn't put the menacing tone in it like he normally did.

"Oh," Kagome said, slightly puzzled by his new attitude. He had mostly gone back to his normal attitude as though what they did only minutes ago never happened. _It was just a mistake_, Kagome thought, relieved and oddly disappointed at the same time.

The sullen girl walked over to her bed and sat on it, putting her back to the window that Inuyasha was sitting in. Oh great, _now _what had he done? But wait, why did it have to be his fault? It was just as much hers for laughing at him in the first place then getting him angry enough that his ears popped up on the top of his head. After that, it was mostly her action that had led up to… the incident.

Silence ensued for a few very long uncomfortable minutes. Inuyasha finally interrupted the quiet saying, "look, just ask your question so that I can go home and get some rest." That was all he needed, some R&R, Rest and Relaxation, though somehow he doubted he was getting any that night.

"Alright," Kagome said nonchalantly, "I meet some…er… people the other day who gave me some information about demons, but I'm not sure if they were lying of not."

She didn't want him to know that she had been captured by the two demons for some reason, maybe because she was embarrassed or did not want him to think she was dumb, so she kept that piece of information to herself.

"What did this person say?"

"He said that there were a lot of demons out there, lurking in the shadows, and some disguised as human. And that there are a lot in this town too, because of me and my power." Kagome told him, adding some of the things Sango and Miroku said to her. She now turned around on her bed, kneeling on it so that she could look at Inuyasha as he talked.

"That's all true."

"And he said that there weren't that many demons left. That their numbers have diminished over the years."

"True, there aren't a lot of full-blooded demons left. They're like a closed society now."

"This…er… person said that there are a lot of people out there who are part demon and don't even know it, is that true?"

"He lied there. Most of the demons are too proud to mate with humans." He looked down at himself and said his next sentence in disgust. "I guess I'm just one of the special ones who gets to be part demon, part human." He continued his voice back to normal. "The demons just die out. They're weaker now since the humans are in power in the world. The few humans that still know about demon existence are like your friends, they hunt them, and their parents hunted them, and their children will hunt them. But the demons do try to disguise themselves as humans, that part is true. But the ones that disguise themselves usual don't mate at all or they mate with other disguised demons. That's how it works. The demons find humans too ignorant to become too involved with. There have been cases where a demon has had a relationship with a human, and then later decides to tell that human what they really are and…"

"And?" Kagome asked, interested.

"The humans just freak. Humans don't like the supernatural." He glanced at her with a funny expression on his face then said, "well most of them don't. When they see it… it scares them. They don't like to know their world is full of demons. They like to think nothing like that every exists or happens."

"So you said demons don't really…mate with humans. Are there many half-demons out there?"

"A few like myself, but not many. There use to be a lot maybe a thousand years ago, that's what I heard anyway, and that's how a lot of the demons died out. Instead of having all demon children they had hanyous and those hanyous married—" he could tell Kagome was having trouble saying mated, "—humans, so then the kid was only a quarter demon, and so it went on and on. So there could be people with demon blood but by now it's microscopic so it doesn't effect them at all."

_That's what Hiten must have meant then. He must have been really old because he said he remembered what it use to be like when demons ruled over humans,_ Kagome thought.

Inuyasha watched the thoughtful look on the girl's face as she stared down at her hands in her lap and then how her lips moved downward in a slight frown. She looked up at him again and her question was soft, as though she was afraid of what the answer might be.

"And… and my…" she was about to say friends but she did not feel as though she could call them friends anymore "…Miroku and Sango… why are they here?"

He looked deep into her eyes and said just as softly, "are you sure you want that answer?" She barely moved her head, but she nodded, so he continued, "just like the demons have started to send people to kidnap you, your frien—" he quickly changed his words, "—those two were sent so that the demons didn't get a hold on you. They're your protectors… unknown protectors, it seems. They were sent to you, just like the demons were sent after you. Them and the demons are from two sides of a war that's raged on for centuries, each trying to win using whatever they can. In this case, you. The humans, your friends, the 'good' side if you want to call it that, who want to keep things as they are with the humans on top, and the demons, the 'bad' side that want to turn humans into fearful creature of their awesome power."

It was just like that line from that movie, she wasn't even sure what movie, but still, that famous line: the truth? You can't handle the truth! The truth in this case was painful. She didn't want to know it. That morning she had tried to overlook it and just be with her "friends" but now…. How could they do this to her? They lied to her for _years. _If it had been something little they had lied about she wouldn't have cared, but this? This was way too much. She felt tears coming and balled her hands into fists. No she would not cry, especially in front on Inuyasha.

"Who sent them?" Kagome asked, her voice thick with emotion. She wouldn't look at him, but her bangs were covering her eyes anyway, as her head was tilted down toward the floor.

Inuyasha pretended not to notice, since it was obvious she did not want him to. "The 'good guys' that's all I know. If you want to know who sent them, you'll have to ask them yourself."

"So they're here only because I have some sort of power. And they need to protect me so I don't fall in the wrong hands," Kagome spat out in fury, "so what is this power I have? Everyone wants it, and I have no idea even what it is."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Who knows?"

Her head snapped up at this statement, her eyes filled with unshed tears and rage. "Who knows? _Who knows?_ What the hell is that suppose to mean!"

Inuyasha seemed taken back by her outburst but said with irritation in his voice, "well, we won't know until you use it."

"Then how does everyone know that this person with all this power is me? Couldn't it be some other girl?" And if it was Sango and Miroku would probably just pack up and leave to go defend that girl without another thought of Kagome, were her bitter thoughts.

Inuyasha jumped down from the windowsill and stalked over to her. "Now listen here, wench." He saw her winced again like he had when he called her that name that morning and mentally cursed himself for being so harsh and forgetting how it had hurt her. "You're the one with the power here, even if you can't use it yet, even if you never learn how to use it!" He held a hand over her chest and moved it around her front as if he were touching something although he was inches away from actually touching her body, but he seemed to be touching her aura as if he could see it. "You give off power wherever you go. That's why everyone knows it's you. The power is… intoxicating. We demons can feel it out and that's why all the demons flocked toward this town, because they can feel it, even if they don't know the source. We're drawn to you."

Inuyasha finally seemed to realize he was too close to her, leaning into her body from where she sat on the bed. He immediately straightened and went back to the window to sit in it again.

"That's why the demons will be able to find you wherever you go, so it'll be easy for them to find you to kidnap you. But once you learn how to use your powers, you'll be able to draw your power in, so then they wouldn't be able to find you anymore. You'd disappear off our radar."

Kagome shifted nervously on the bed, still uncomfortable after he had been so close to her again. "But why did Miroku or Sango never tell me? If I used my powers and hid myself from the demons, they'd be able to leave." _And they'd probably want to,_ Kagome thought, _That way Sango could be closer to her brother and Miroku… well he'd probably just follow her._

"Probably because they were told not to. Because if you found out… we'll let just say, how do you fell right now?"

Betrayed. Angry, no more like furious. Disappointed. Distressed. And Kagome then understood. If she felt like this toward them, they wouldn't be able to do there job. So they just followed her, probably thinking she was a bumbling, ignorant teenage girl, and did what they were told. But if she pushed Miroku and Sango too far away, and worse than that, if they left, then who was going to protect her? She shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking so selfishly. They did not want to be here, so they should just leave. She should just let them go, it didn't matter now.

"Seems to me that they were never really your friends at all. They just had to pretend to be to earn your trust. Really, they're no better then the demons that are after you."

"I think you should leave now," she told him softly, but firmly.

His words were true, and exactly what she was thinking, but for him to say them out loud… it made all his words real and she didn't want them to be. She wanted to go back, back to when she didn't know any of this, back to when there was no such thing as demons, but it wouldn't change anything. Demons would still be after her, and Sango and Miroku would only be here because she needed to be shielded away from the demons.

Inuyasha looked like he wanted to stay and talk with her some more, but he shrugged at her request and jumped out the window, and she meant that literally. She blinked a couple times and went over to the open window sticking her head out it, but he was already gone. Kagome shook her head while shutting her window, thinking how strange a certain demon-boy could be.

* * *

Kagome walked to school gloomily. No smiling or humming, no urge to skip and sing out loud. She could not have been more depressed. Of course, that was before she knew who was coming up behind her. Sango and Miroku approached her meekly. After she had left them yesterday between classes, they hadn't seen her again and she had been a little edgy yesterday. 

She heard them behind her, but she did not stop or acknowledge them at all. Finally Sango got tried of waiting.

"Hi, Kagome," Sango said nervously.

Kagome shot her a look and kept on walking. Sango was startled by her glare.

"Woah, there Kagome," Sango said, talking to her like she was a wild horse. She did not touch her, sensing that that would end badly but she ran a little ahead of Kagome and stopped in front of her. Kagome tried to go to the left of her, but Sango shifted over and going to the right had similar results. "What's wrong?"

That stopped her short. "What's wrong?" Kagome asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"What happened Kagome? Did someone hurt you?" Miroku asked.

She laughed sharply at that and not in a funny way. She stopped trying to get passed her and Miroku moved to Sango's side so that he could see Kagome's face. She took a step back from them.

"Yeah, someone did," she whispered.

"Who?" Sango asked.

"You did. You… you lied to me… for years. Never told me…" she trailed off then started again. "All those monsters out there and… and I never knew… never knew why you were really here either. He told me to find out what you did on those Saturday nights… and oh, boy did I find out."

No one spoke for a while until Sango uttered her name. "Kagome…"

"I feel so stupid," she whispered, interrupting her, "all those times you came to school Monday morning with those cuts and bruises… all those injuries… and I just believed you when you said they were from playing sports or tripping or something stupid like that. I _trusted _you. You were my best friend. At least I thought you were but was I just an assignment to you?"

"I think you're overacting a bit Kagome," Sango argued.

"Overacting? Overacting?" Kagome yelled. "Do you know how much information I've received over the past week? Do you know how much I found out what you told me were lies? Founding out the world is not really the place I thought it was… and you knew this the for what, six years? and you never told me! All these questions and new information swirling around in my head…! It's like I'm drowning and I can't… I can't…" Kagome suddenly turned around, shaking her head furiously. Tears began forming in her eyes and her vision blurred. She voice cracked with emotion as she said, "I can't do this right now. I just can't."

So many emotions played in her head. Rage, sorrow, pain, betrayal… she couldn't stand them all. A hand grabbed her arm and she frantically shook it off. She whirled to find Miroku holding onto her. He tried to speak soft words to her like he always did to calm her down, but it was not going to work that time.

"Kagome…" Miroku began.

"GET OFF ME!" Kagome screamed, jerking him off her. She turned back to face both of them, tears streaming down her face at this point. "You don't understand, do you? What it feels like…?" Kagome asked, her voice barely audible. "I hate feeling this way!" She yelled suddenly, then went back to her soft voice, "It's like when you're a kid and you get a new toy, a new toy that everyone else on the block wants to play with, so they all come to you and you think they all want to be your friend so you let them play with your new toy. But then your toy gets broken or someone else gets a better one, and you find yourself all alone, those friends gone, because they were never really friends at all."

"Kagome, that's not what happened, if you'll just let us explain—" Sango started.

Kagome didn't wait for her to finish. "So what happens if I get broken or die? Or it turns out I'm not the girl your looking for? Do you just pack up and leave to go protect that girl, become her 'friend' for a while until the next 'assignment' comes alone?"

Both seemed too stunned to talk. Kagome had never been like this before. She was always so happy and innocent…. Her innocence always made the day brighter when the two knew what really went on in the world.

"Your silence is my answer. God, Inuyasha was right." Kagome laughed short and harshly. "There's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

Kagome ran away from them, crying, running toward her home instead of school. And neither of them made a move to stop her as her hurtful words sunk in. The worst part about it was they were true.

"I don't understand," Sango whispered, "she was fine around us yesterday. A little uncomfortable, yes, but…"

Then the last things Kagome said before running came back to her.

"Sango?" Miroku inquired, worriedly, as he saw a dark expression come onto Sango's face.

She hardly heard Miroku when he called her. Sango had only had one thing on her mind.

"Inuyasha," she said in a growled whisper.

* * *

"Sango," Miroku called warningly. 

Sango, however, did not listen and stormed into the school to find Inuyasha. She spotted him within moments. It really was not hard to spot the silver hair through the crowd.

"INUYASHA!" Sang yelled at him.

Miroku winced. That girl was going to get herself killed very soon if she kept acting like that. Inuyasha might only be half demon but he was still stronger then a lot of full-blooded demons were.

Inuyasha turned around and waited for the fiery girl to catch up to him, with an sullen Miroku trailing behind her. When she finally caught up, he spoke first.

"What do _you_ want?" he asked, annoyed.

"What did you tell Kagome?" Sango snapped at him.

"Everything."

"Everything…?"

"Everything you weren't willing to tell her. About you and the _monk,_ and I use that term very loosely, about herself… everything."

"No, you told her we lied to her and we weren't her friends!"

"Well, you didn't tell her, isn't that as good as lying? I only told her the truth, that you were just sent her to look after her because of her powers. After that she came to her own conclusions, even though I had the same ones."

"You told her to follow us. She almost got herself _killed_ and—"

"Woah, wait! I never told her to follow you, I only told her to ask you what you actually did those Saturday nights," Inuyasha told her while his head was yelling _That little idiot followed them! That's where she got all those bruises. _" I've seen you, out there fighting the demons. And she wanted to know. She had, no, still has a right to know why you guys are really here."

Sango shook her head furiously. "No! This is your fault! If it hadn't been for you—"

He lost it and began to yell at the girl. "Then she would have never known the truth. She would have been raped and kidnapped by a bunch of demon. Some protection you are to her when you aren't even there. Sure you keep tabs on her when she's in school, but who the hell is going to hurt her in a school with a thousand fucking people to witness it? Anything I'm leaving out?"

"No, you twisted her mind—" Sango said, though she knew she was losing her argument.

"I didn't do anything! Don't play the game 'toss all the blame on Inuyasha'." He realized he was yelling and they were beginning to have an audience. He continued in a fierce whisper. "Yeah, it must be his fault because he has demon blood in him. I'm fucking tired of it. I only told her what she wanted to know." He paused then added roughly, "It's more than you ever did."

Sango opened her mouth and closed it over and over again, but no sound would come out. She must have looked like a fish on dry land. He made her so furious and yet, he was right. They had never told her after so many years… it was only right that she thought the worst of her and Miroku at the moment.

"Think about that before you go see her again," Inuyasha spat out before turning and walking away.

Sango clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. She began to tremble with rage. Even worse, she felt she might start to cry. No, she had to keep hold of her rage. As long as she was angry, the tears would not come. She wanted to be angry at Inuyasha, and she was, but she was also angry at herself. Her best friend had told Sango she had felt betrayed by her and now the words sank in. She _had_ betrayed her best friend in a way. She was a traitor.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she whipped around prepared to beat down anyone who came near her. Instead she found herself looking up at Miroku. He held one of her hands by the wrist up in the air, the hand she had just been about to punch him with and the other was still on her shoulder. He also had a strange look on his face. She glared fiercely at him waiting for him to say anything, like that they had lost their closest friend's trust, that she had a been a fool to yell at Inuyasha, or anything along those lines. What she had not expected was what he did.

He let go of Sango's wrist and shoulder and enveloped her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest, her hands fisted into his shirt. She felt warm tears start to spill out of her eyes as Miroku brought her closer.

How could they have been so stupid? Why hadn't they ever just told her what was going on? But part of Sango knew why. She never wanted Kagome to know, partially because of the fear of how Kagome would hate them for it, like how she was reacting right now, and partially because Sango never wanted Kagome to find out what really went on in the town. How there were demons that killed just for the pleasure of killing…. She never wanted to have to see the loss of innocence that would befall on her just like she had seen it happen to others. It was not the same with her. When she had grown up, she had known since she was little and had grown up with the knowledge that demons existed, but when it was just forced upon someone… they would either ignore it, accept it, which was most unlikely, or most commonly, it would break them.

She had seen girls and boys alike taken into mental institutions after witnessing the horrible things demons could do. She had met one normal, perky girl, much like Kagome, who had seen everyone in her family die by the hands of demons, and the demons had only done it for fun to see the girl's reaction. She had turned insane. She was now ranting somewhere in an institutions, tied down to a bed so she would not start clawing at herself and pulling out her own hair. Call her selfish, but she never, _ever_ wanted to see something like that happen to Kagome. If Kagome started to try to take control of her powers, more and more demons would know of her existence and then everyone around her would be in constant danger because everyone around her, her mother and brother to start, were weak and could be used as bait or used to threaten her.

"Sango?" Miroku whispered to her softly.

"Hmm?" Sango asked, not removing her face from his shirt.

"I think it's time we go make amends with a friend," Miroku said.

Sango nodded, still clutching to his shirt, as if for dear life.

* * *

A/N: Wow, I was a little hard on Sango and Miroku in this chapter. Sorry 'bout that. I just really wanted to get across what Kagome was feeling. 


	4. Chapter 4: A Promise

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

* * *

****

In a World of Demons

Chapter 4: A Promise

* * *

"Have her friends been disposed of?" He asked nonchalantly, figuring he knew the answer already. 

"No, not yet, my lord."

The statement stopped his good mood short. "What?" he yelled.

"There appears to be no need to. She seems to have sent them away on her own accord, my lord."

He smiled. "Maybe there's more hope for this girl joining us then I originally thought."

* * *

Kagome woke up alone, no one else in her bedroom. She felt oddly empty and drained of all emotions. With a sigh she got up, preparing herself for the long day ahead of her. 

A month had gone by and Kagome still refused to speak with them. They visited often offering apologies among other things, but she would have none of it. She just wanted to be alone, away from them. They obviously did not seem to understand that at all, since they kept showing up. Then a pang of guilt went through her as she remembered what happened yesterday and she willed herself not to cry again.

She trudged to the bathroom and leaned against the counter, her hands grasping the edge and her nails biting deep into the wood. She looked up into the mirror in front of her then quickly glanced down. She did not want to see her reflection.

She closed her eyes, remembering one particular time Sango had come to visit her on her own.

* * *

"Why did you never tell me?" Kagome yelled as she paced in her room. 

"Because we knew you'd react this way! And would not let us near you! So we couldn't tell you!" Sango yelled back, arms crossed while standing near Kagome's door. She wanted to be close to the door if Kagome started to throw things at her again. Last time she had been lucky since the only thing in Kagome's reach had been stuffed animals, but this time she could start throwing heavier things like her alarm clock.

"So, you were going to do what? Never tell me my whole entire life? Just follow me around until we were old and gray? This was going to happen eventually, you must have known that."

Sango kept silent. She _had _known it on some level and she had feared this was how she would have reacted.

"So why not just tell me when you first got here, when we were in middle school together?"

"Because they said you were too young then."

"Who the hell is they?"

Sango ignored the question and continued with what she was saying, "they didn't want to tell you at such a young age. They wanted to tell you when you were ready, when you were older, but…"

"But what?" Kagome yelled.

"But they kept delaying it, fearing how you would react. If you got angry enough…. Kagome, you don't know how much power you really have! You could've blown up the school if you got angry enough and if your power reacted on its own accord and lashed out. Or they thought that you might have gone to join the demons just to spite us."

"They think that little of me, do they?" Kagome said with a harsh laugh. "And you thought that too? That I would join the 'dark side'?" She asked it mockingly. "You really don't know me at all then. It's all true. You're not really my friend at all, you never were."

"Kagome…"

"Get out," Kagome growled menacingly.

* * *

Her eyes shot open. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could tell they were full of sorrow. She should not have spoken so harshly to her. Maybe she should just let them explain… but every time she started to let them talk she always got angry and sent them away. She missed her ex-friends dearly. They had constantly been around her, now she understood why, but she hadn't been complaining then. She liked to be with them and laugh with them, joke with them. Now it felt like a part of her was missing. She had known them for so long… and they had been her constant companions. She had gotten in trouble with them, sent to detention for pranks pulled on the teacher with them, but now… just the feeling of emptiness. 

She hadn't felt like herself in weeks. It was like she was half-dead without them around. All she could do was remember all the good times they had together and feel remorse knowing that they might never happen again.

The demons, on the other hand, had made no other attempts to kidnap her. Well, there had been that one night, but Inuyasha had shown up just in time to save her.

* * *

She was walking home from her job, humming a tune she had just heard on the radio. When she hummed, it kept her occupied and she was less afraid of what might be lurking in the shadows. No one had attacked her since Hiten and Manten had gotten a hold of her, so she was due to an attack sooner or later. 

And sure enough, just thinking about it caused it to happen. A lone demon stepped out from the shadows and into her path but she could not find it in herself to be scared. She felt herself being very empty lately.

"Hello, girlie," the demon said, "why don't you come along peacefully and I won't have to get rough."

Before she could come up with an insulting reply, someone jumped down from the roof and kicked the demon in the head. It was Inuyasha, of course. He plunged his hand through the demon's heart and then took it out and let the dead demon crumple to the floor. The demon had been stronger then the first five they had sent after her put together, but the demon was still weak compared to Inuyasha. It was good that they did not know of him yet because that way, the demons they sent after the girl were the lower class ones, thinking that any demon could take out a human girl.

Inuyasha looked over at the girl for some sort of praise but she stood with her hands on her hips. That was never a good sign.

"How did you know I was going to be here?" she asked, then added, "and happened to be getting attacked?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I didn't know. It just so happens, I like to hang out on top of that roof," he pointed, "and so I keep hearing you get attacked by demons."

Yes, it seemed so long ago that he had saved her from the demons, which was the official start of her encounter with the demon world and the worst month of her life. Inuyasha had saved her that night, tended somewhat crudely to her arm, and brought her home to her bed.

"That remind me. I forgot to ask you last time, how did you know where I lived?"

He looked very uncomfortable by the question and he began to blush. "I saw you walk home one day."

Which translated to: I followed you home. Oh great, now she had stray dog-demons following her home. Her mom would be so disappointed. That meant he had followed her home before he had even met her. Why? She pushed away the question, figuring it was just because he was drawn to whatever powers she had.

"Don't you have a home?" Kagome asked, sternly.

"Yes!" Inuyasha answered gruffly, "I just don't go there that often." He seemed to want to change the subject. "So are you going to make up with your friends—" he saw the look she was giving him and changed it to, "—those two any time soon? Because I don't want to have to save you all the time."

"Not likely," Kagome said, referring to her making up with them.

"Look they lied, okay? Everyone lies at some point in their life," Inuyasha said angrily, "they lie and they hurt people, and the people _forgive_ them. It's a part of life. Now go and make up with your friends."

He jumped up and was on a roof of a building and was out of sight in seconds, leaving a stunned Kagome behind.

* * *

She clutched the counter even harder then before. No, Inuyasha was wrong! She couldn't forgive them, not yet anyway. It hurt too much to think of them. But she wouldn't have any time to forgive them because it was going to happen soon. 

Because today was the day, the end of it all. She told herself she should be happy, but her heart hurt at the thought.

Miroku and Sango were leaving.

* * *

Saturday morning

one day earlier

The phone was ringing. Did she have to call everyday? It was not like Kagome was going to actually talk to her. Everyday Kagome would pick up the phone, Sango would begin to talk, and Kagome would hang up on her thirty seconds later after picking up the phone.

Kagome sighed, telling her mom she'd get it, and walked into the kitchen to the phone. Before answering, Kagome noticed a few chocolate chip cookies that here mom had just taken out of the oven. She grabbed a small plate and put a cookie on it. She picked up the phone and held it between her shoulder and her ear, while one hand held the cookie that she had just taken a bite of, and the other held the plate underneath it so that the plate picked up all the crumbles.

"Yeah?" Kagome mumbled as she swallowed a piece of cookie. Not that she did already know who it was, but she could not just keep silent. She had to say something to show that she had indeed picked up the phone.

"Kagome?"

"…" She was going to count to thirty and then hang up. She did not care what she had to say.

" We… Miroku and I… we're leaving," Sango voice said hesitantly through the phone.

Kagome's cookie fell out of her hand and onto the plate below it. Her hands trembled slightly. She shook her head faintly, thinking, no, she most have heard wrong. Somehow she knew she had not.

"Wh-what?" Kagome asked.

"We're leaving. It's obvious we're only hurting you so we've been told to pack up and leave," Sango said. Her voice had some emotion in it, but Kagome couldn't figure out what.

What happened next was like it was in slow motion. The plate dropped from Kagome's hand and fell to the floor, shattering with the impact. The phone dropped from where it was between her ear and shoulder and fell, hitting first the counter and then the ground with a large clang. Kagome knee's buckled, causing her to collapse on the floor, her rear hitting the ground hard, but she did not seem to notice, even as piece of the broken plate nicked her arm. Her mom was yelling at her, screaming if she was all right, but she did not hear it. She did not hear any sound except what she was thinking.

No, No, this couldn't be happening! They couldn't be leaving! Sure she had been angry and felt a lot of betrayal, but that didn't mean they had to leave! But they had been ordered to go. They probably did not even care that they had to go, they just thought they had to inform her.

"Kagome? Kagome!" Sango's voice buzzed through the phone. She must have been screaming for her to have heard it. Kagome didn't even know where the phone had landed, but she was surprised it had not broke from the fall.

Kagome drew her knees up to her chest, her head rested on her knees, as she slowly rocked back and forth in a fetal position. Her mom was shaking her, but she hardly noticed.

She was going to be all alone again, like it was when she was younger. When she was a small child hardly anyone would want to go near here. For some reason, they all shied away from her and she now understood this was because of her powers. The normal humans recognized she was different without them even knowing why they didn't want to be around her, but they never questioned it, they just stayed away from the odd girl. Kagome had always been so lonely, the only one who would keep her company was Hojo and he got annoying quick. Then, one day in middle school, a new girl had shown up, by the name of Sango, and wanted to be her friend and she couldn't have been happier. Then around a year later another boy had come and he too wanted to be her friend and for once in her life, she felt normal.

Until last month when she found the real reason for it all. Sango and Miroku might not be her real friends, but she liked having them around nonetheless. And now, they would be gone.

* * *

Kagome glanced at the bandage on her arm. That plate had nicked her good yesterday. It had been a deep cut, but her mom had wrapped it up nice enough. Her mom still had wanted to bring her to the hospital but Kagome talked her out of it. She felt guilty because her mom had no idea what was going on in her life and was puzzled by her daughter's strange behavior all of the sudden. Kagome did not want her mom brought into it. She wanted her to feel safe in the world and not know that there were demons out there. Demons that happened to want to kidnap her daughter because she had some kind of supernatural power. 

She could just picture her mom becoming paler and paler as she explained and then fainting on the floor. No, she was definitely keeping her mom out of this, for as long as possible. Hopefully, she would never have to tell her.

Her mom had not wanted to leave her alone at all that day, but Kagome insisted, giving her mom a bright and very fake smile. Finally, her mom had given up and gone to work while Souta had gone to his friend's house, leaving Kagome all alone in the house.

She had lied. She had not wanted to be alone.

But she had not been alone for long.

* * *

Saturday night

one day earlier

For the length of the day, Kagome had tried to keep herself busy. She had watched television, read, did anything to keep busy. After her outburst that morning, she had felt completely void of emotion. She walked around her house much like a zombie would, dragging her feet along, not sure where she was going, or what she was doing, no thought going through her head. Just… nothingness.

That night she found herself sitting on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, sitting like she had that morning, but nothing seemed to be going through her head. She heard a soft tap on her window and looked at it vacantly. Moments later it slid open and Inuyasha jumped into her room, closing the window quickly so that the night's cold air did not fill the room. She stared at him blankly as he walked toward her. He stopped when he was in front of the bed. Kagome's face was expressionless. She felt, no, was empty. Nothing at all was going through her mind.

"So, baka," Inuyasha said casually, "made up with those two yet?"

Just staring up at this strange boy, she felt herself open again and at his words the shield she had up all day after Sango's phone call came crumbling down.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out, her eyes brimming with tear.

Before Inuyasha knew what she was doing, Kagome had flung herself at him, crying into his chest. Inuyasha put his arms around her and hugged her, awkwardly at first. He had never held a crying woman before. It had been strange at first, but then he tightened his hold on her, giving her a comforting squeeze. He closed his eyes, just liking the feeling of her clinging to him and the warmth of her body against his own as she sobbed uncontrollably. He rocked her back and forth, while running one hand through her hair.

"Don't cry. It'll be alright," Inuyasha told her.

Kagome stiffened when he spoke. Well it wasn't going to be now! He had just ruined it! What did he know, anyway? He didn't even know the reason why she was crying! She felt herself get angry and was about to retort something when she felt his lips against her forehead and any response she might have had was gone as she melted deeper in Inuyasha's arms.

He kissed her forehead and laid his cheek against the top of her head as she relaxed in his arms and snuggled up against him, pressing her soft body against him. He stroked her tear soaked cheek and he heard Kagome take in a deep shaky breath as her tears began to stop falling.

Inuyasha felt her begin to drift to sleep, as her breathing became soft and rhythmic. He was intoxicated by her. Her smell… she smelled like strawberries and the fresh new day that began at dawn and…. and under all that, power. Her smell, along with her power, filled him, spreading throughout his body. It aroused him and that's when he knew he had to leave.

She felt herself be lulled asleep as Inuyasha held her close while rocking her ever so gently. She felt him move her, pulling away. She made a small sound of protest, though she refused to open her eyes or move, being hardly conscious anyway.

He was now hovering over her, his knees on either side of her waist, as he placed her head gently on the pillow. His eyes fell on her lips and then moved down her body that lay so perfectly under him, his eyes filling with desire, but he pushed the notion away. She was hurting at the moment and he could not, would not, take advantage of her. Any advances he made that she returned interest with, she would have regretted in the morning when her head was cleared and not filled with sorrow.

He was about to move away when her arm came up and clasped together behind his back, startling him and bringing his body down onto hers. He put his arms on either side of her shoulders to keep their faces from meeting, but otherwise his body was on top of her lush form. Still their faces were only inches apart as though daring him to kiss her and he could not get up because of her arms around him.

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, obviously more asleep than awake at the moment, otherwise she would have realized what she was doing. Her eyes closed again, but she let her arms fall to her sides and Inuyasha immediately rolled off her. He did not notice how fast his heart was beating until just then. He sat up to leave when Kagome's hand grabbed his arm.

She hadn't moved her head from where it was on the pillow but her eyes were open and were filling with unshed tears.

"Stay," Kagome asked softly, "please."

Looking into her eyes as they were about to start overflowing again, he could not say no. He could not make her cry again. He laid down next to her on the bed and brought her to him, molding his body against hers long after she fell back asleep.

* * *

When she had woken up the next morning, he was gone and the comfort he had given her was gone with him. Kagome was alone again. Her bed felt oddly cold without the warmth he had shared with her. She found her cheeks burning just by thinking of him in her bed last night. The only thing he left behind was his scent. He had smelled like the forest, a fresh and clean scent that tickled her nose, but she would rather of had him there to hold her once again. She could not deal with the fact that they were going to be gone. 

The tears kept threatening to come back. She could not believe they were leaving. They couldn't do this to her! They had lied… and now they were leaving. She'd never, ever forgive them if she never saw them again. She was allowed to be mad at them now, she had a right to, but that did not mean they were allowed to leave! But why should she care? Let the traitors fall off the edge of the earth for all she cared. For all she knew the earth could be flat also and they had been keeping that from her too. She hoped they fell off it.

But deep down, she did not want them to go. She wanted them there so she could yell at them and for them to fell sorry that they hurt her. And then when she was ready, she could forgive them. If they left now they were never really her friends at all.

The phone rang and she ran from the bathroom into the kitchen. She made a dive for the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?" Kagome asked, out of breath.

"…" A small intake of breath was all that was heard on the other end.

"Sango?" Kagome inquired.

"We'll be leaving at two from my house," she said. She paused, then added, "we won't be coming back, Kagome. After today we'll be gone for good and you'll never hear from us again."

Click.

The phone went dead in her hand before Kagome could even think of a response.

* * *

It was one fifty-five. 

Kagome sat on the couch, staring off into space like she had been doing for hours. She wasn't moving from that spot, not one inch. Let them leave at two o'clock for all she cared. They should be coming to her to say goodbye, she should not have to go to them.

Kagome felt the tears come again and now she let them fall. Her best friends would be gone in five minutes and she probably would never see them again. Miroku… Sango… if those were even their real names. Funny thing to be thinking when two very important people in your life were about to disappear forever. If she did not see them now… she'd never see them again.

Who was she kidding? She jumped out of the chair and was out the door in a flash. It was pouring out but that didn't phase her for a second. She had to get there before they left. If she didn't…

* * *

"Sango," Miroku called softly. No response. He tried again. "Sango, it's time to go." 

Both were drenched with rain. They had been waiting outside the house next to the car they would be using to leave for nearly a half an hour, but nothing on the street seemed to change. Everything was eerily silent, the only thing that could be heard was the rain that was pouring down from the sky. No one went outside, no one passed by. It was as though time was frozen.

Sango looked frantically down the street, searching for any sign of Kagome, but there was none. She was not coming. Sango felt the tears coming, mixing with the rain on her face and falling to the already wet ground. She felt Miroku embrace her tightly from behind, bringing her close to him. Her head was leaning back against his chest and his chin resting on the top of her head as they both watched the street from the way Kagome would come. If she was coming at all.

"I'm sorry," Miroku murmured to her, "I know you wanted her to come."

Sango tried to keep from sobbing, but her body began to tremble instead. If Miroku had not known she was crying before, he did now. She tried to be angry with Kagome for not even seeing them off, but she couldn't. Kagome had every right to be angry with them. The best thing right now was for them to leave and for them to send new people to look after Kagome. From what Sango saw, Inuyasha seemed to be taking good care of her anyway. She did not need two people who had lied to her for years; she needed some new protectors, ones she could trust. She'd have never been able to trust her and Miroku after what they had done to her.

Sango glanced at her pinky finger on her right hand that had a pink ring on it, a pink ring that had come out of those machine you put twenty-five cents in and got a prize, and thought of Kagome. After all they'd been through together she was sure Kagome would have at least come to say goodbye…

"It's alright. I never gave her the chance to tell me if she was going to come anyway." Sango looked up at Miroku and gave him a wilted smile. "It's not like… it's not like she has…any reason… to… to…"

She couldn't help it, she began to sob. Miroku kissed her lightly on the cheek. She was too depressed to feel surprised at his display of affection, but it did stop her sobs, though she continued to cry silently. Miroku had his own small smile on his face though his eyes held a deep sadness in them.

"Let's go, we can do no more good here," Miroku told her gently.

He opened the car door for her and let her slide in then went around to the driver's seat. He looked down the street for only a moment then turned on the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life.

* * *

Kagome ran as fast as she could. She'd get there in time, she just knew it. If she doubted it, she knew they would leave. So just as long as she believed they would still be there. 

_Please, let them be there,_ Kagome thought, desperately.

She had to tell them… had to let them know…

Sango had been by her side from the very beginning on, now Kagome had to return the favor. Just as long as they were still there she could make it better.

* * *

Kagome leaned against the school building while outside during her lunch period. Another start of another year of school. Although it was different this year because it was her first year of middle school and she got a lot more freedom between walking from class to class and all. She had just been in this new school for a week and already she did not like it. She was meeting more new people who had come from different elementary schools but now they were going to the same middle school and already she didn't like them. Already people were being defined and put into groups. Oh, this person goes in the "popular" group, and this guy, well, he belongs with the "nerds". 

Kagome rolled her eyes at the thought, not caring what "group" they put her in. It's not like she had any friends anyway, so it didn't matter. She always paid more attention to herself and her schoolwork then other people.

She could already begin to hear the boys whispering about the hot eighth graders. Did they understand that they were just eleven years old? It would be funny if it wasn't oh-so sad. She was ashamed on behalf of her whole class.

"Check out the legs on that girl…"

"… that's the girl that rejected him."

"…no I think the blonde is hotter…"

And so it went on and on. Before long Kagome couldn't take it anymore.

"Would you just shut up already? It's not like you're going to get one of them. You're eleven, you dolt."

They all turned to look at her in a menacing way. Kagome had made a big mistake. These boys looked like they were out for blood and it wasn't just because of what she said, although that was most of it, it was just because nobody really liked her in her grade or any other grade in fact so they jumped at the chance to insult her.

"Don't talk to us like that," one of the larger boys said. He grabbed her arm and dug his nails painfully into her skin.

"Just leave her alone," another, strong looking boy said.

"Why should I, Kouga? The bitch should be taught a lesson."

He dug his nails deeper into her skin, drawing blood and Kagome yelped. She pleaded with her eyes for the boy, Kouga to help her, but he wasn't looking at her. He shrugged and walked away, leaving her to the other boy's wrath, but not before saying, "don't say I didn't warn ya." She wondered if he had seen the look in her eyes he might have stayed and helped, but it was only a fleeting thought.

Kagome resisted him and stomped on his foot, but that only made him grab her other arm and dig in even harder than before. She spit in his face and kicked him in the shin over and over again, hoping he would have a huge black and blue the next day.

"Why don't you let the girl go," said a girl's voice.

A girl stalked over to the boy who was holding her, not even glancing at the other two around him, which angered the forgotten two. She was taller than Kagome and looked a lot stronger. Her black hair was pulled up in a high ponytail.

"And what are you going to do about it?" the boy taunted.

"This."

The girl brought up a fist and punched the guy in the face and he stumbled backward. She kicked him in the stomach as he stumbled, causing him to fall to the concrete blacktop and hit his head. He lay there moaning in pain while the two others made a run for it, leaving the hurt boy behind.

Kagome glanced at the girl who saved her while she rubbed her arm where five crescents were carved into her skin, bleeding, but only a little bit. Kagome was leaning against the building again, halfway between standing and sitting.

The girl offered her a hand up and said, "hi, I'm Sango. I just transferred."

She took the offered hand, saying, "Kagome. Been here forever, unfortunately."

Sango looked shocked. "Are you really her?"

Kagome was puzzled by Sango's expression. "Yeah, why? Have you heard of me before?" Then Kagome felt depressed again. Sango had probably talked to the other students and had already learned about Kagome that why she was shocked. She must have regretted saving her. No one ever liked Kagome.

Sango gave a half-smile. "You could say that. Yeah…er… the other students were talking about you. From what they said I thought you would be taller and a lot more menacing. Either that or someone who's frightened of their own shadow."

"Well I'm not either of those." Maybe this girl actually wanted to be her friend.

Sango grinned. "I can see that. You seemed like you were able to handle yourself back there. I just thought I might lend a hand. Come on, let's go get some lunch and we can trade war stories."

Kagome grinned back, taking the invitation, feeling very happy indeed. She had just made her first true friend that day and she would do her best not to lose her.

* * *

No, Kagome would do her best not to lose her friend if she could help it. And now, Kagome now understood Sango's words. 

Yeah…er… the other students were talking about you. From what they said I thought you would be taller and a lot more menacing. Either that or someone who's frightened of their own shadow.

When Sango had told her that, she hadn't meant the other students, she had meant the person who sent her. Whoever sent Sango had put a total different image in her mind of what Kagome might be like. She had not expected to like Kagome, but she had anyway.

Kagome was drenched down to the bone and the rain started to come down harder but she did not care. Instead, she picked up the pace.

* * *

Kagome searched for her best friend. Two months had gone by since their first meeting and the two had been best friends ever since. She was worried about Sango. She had said she would meet her twenty minutes ago, but she was not here. Sango would not have just left her here waiting all alone and if she was not going to come she would have called Kagome before. Something was wrong, she just knew it. 

Someone was racing toward her. Sango? No, she recognized him as Hojo, her only childhood friend. His breath was laboring and his shirt, drenched with sweat.

"Kagome!" Hojo screamed.

"Hojo, what is it?" Kagome asked him anxiously.

Hojo was having trouble breathing. "Sango…behind deli… angry eighth graders…" he gasped.

That was all Kagome needed to hear. She made a run for the deli going as fast as she could. That boy Sango had beat up to save Kagome had sworn vengeance on both of them, but mostly just Sango. Could this be it? Getting some eighth graders do the job for him? What a coward, but Sango could be getting hurt because of that coward.

Kagome kept running even though her leg muscles screamed in protest and she could hardly breath. She had to reach Sango before anything happened to her. She'd never forgive herself if she did not. Sango had been her first real friend. She had never cared about what others said, just excepted Kagome for who she was nothing more.

She reached the alley behind the deli and found her eyes widen. There must have been ten teenage boys standing over a limp body of a sixth grader. Obviously they were all over the age of thirteen, judging by their frames. These were definitely not just eighth graders.

Her eyes fell again on fallen her friend. Was she even still alive? Screaming bloody murder, Kagome charged at the boys who had hurt her best friend.

* * *

A sad smile came to Kagome's lips as she remembered how devoted she was to Sango that day. Kagome then glanced at a scar she still had from that battle. The day after that fight, they had both been covered in cuts and bruises. Sango had fractured her arm and Kagome had nearly bled to death from the cut across her right wrist that was now a scar. The two had then made a promise to always look out for each other and never leave the other behind again. 

Kagome glanced down at the ring on her pinky finger. If she let Sango leave now, they would both be breaking their promise.

* * *

Kagome and Sango sat together, laughing as they remembered the teacher's expression when he found he was glued down, literally, to his seat. It was an old prank but still a favorite of theirs. Of course, they were found out right away, mainly because Sango could not stop laughing _before_ the teacher even sat down. They'd both received a month's detention but it was worth it. It was not so much how the teacher sat down in the chair, no it was mostly thinking of how he was going to get out of it. He would either have to try to pull himself until he got out, which was unlikely, or he would have to take his pants off. She had a feeling that that teacher was not about to get up at all that day, unless he happened to have an extra pair of pants with him. But the best part of all was when he rolled his chair out of the classroom all the way to the principal's office. 

So now, that was where they sat, in the principal's office waiting for what she would say. Before Kagome had heard a lot of yelling coming from the room next to the office where the principal and the teacher had been talking, but now the principal sat in front of them, her hands clasped on her desk.

The principal knew them very well by now, having had them down in her office quite often after fights or after they pulled pranks just like the one they had just pulled. Scratch the last best part, the real best part was how the principal's lips kept twitching, trying not to smile as she gave them a stern lecture. The thing was, she liked the two trouble makers. She had once told them, confidentially, that they reminded her of herself at that age. That was the only reason they never got kicked out of school. Yet.

But the principal only lectured them and agreed with the month's detention their teacher had promised. She then went back into the other room to continue to argue with the teacher who changed his mind and wanted them expelled for their latest prank.

What the two girls did not notice was that there was a boy all the way in the back of the principal's office who had heard the entire thing. The boy got up and made his way toward the two seventh grade girls.

"How long have you been here?" Sango asked him sharply.

"Long enough to know that I am gazing upon two very crafty beauties," he said.

He picked up Sango's hand and gave a gentle kiss to the back of her hand. She was too stunned to say anything. The boy did the same to Kagome, which made her turn a deep shade of red. While kissing her hand he said, "enchanted, I'm sure. And what might your names be, lovely maidens?"

"Sango."

He raised an eyebrow at that and spoke his words, carefully. "Sango, is it? I'm Miroku."

Sango gasped softly. They seemed to exchange a glance of enlightenment that only confused Kagome. Had they met before? But no, he had asked their names, so what was with the glance?

Miroku turned to her, the coy smile back on his face. "And you? What might your name be?"

"Kagome."

Again, he lifted an eyebrow at her and glanced very quickly at Sango.

"Ah, I should have known," he muttered to himself, though Kagome heard. He spoke to both of the, saying, "Kagome and Sango together. Mind if I join in on your pranks next time?"

Kagome smiled cheerfully at him and responded, "sure."

He could not help smiling back at the joyful girl that stood in front of him and exchanged another meaningful glance with Sango. She seemed to understand his slightly startled nature and he nodded, giving him a knowing smile. Miroku had not wanted to come at first but standing her with two lovely girls in front of him, he could not help but think he was going to like it here after all.

* * *

And just like that, that was how the friendship of the three of them had started. Thinking back now, she understood those glances between Miroku and Sango. He had been informed that Sango was already there with Kagome and he too had been expecting a different kind of person and was surprised when he met Kagome for the first time. 

She had overlooked so many details of the past, details that told her that they were really her friends. She just had not wanted to believe them. She had wanted to feel angry at them for lying to her for so long, but in reality they were her friends. They were never ordered to pull pranks with her and help her get out of detention. They were never ordered to go to the mall or the movies with her. Sango did not have to call her and invite her to sleep over or to go out to have some fun, she did that because she wanted to, because she was her friend. Why had Kagome acted so stupidly? Of course they were her friends!

And now she had to go and tell them all of that before they disappeared from her life forever.

Kagome was now in a full sprint, urging herself to go as fast as humanly possible. Her heart was racing, her breath laboring but she wouldn't let herself slow for even a moment. The harsh rain blinded her for moments at a time but she ignored it. Kagome could walk to Sango's house blindfolded if she had to, that was how many times she had gone there. She would get there no matter what and throw herself on the car so they wouldn't be able to leave until she convinced them not to go.

Sango's house was in her view and her heart leapt with joy she ran toward the house and… and…

Her heart stopped and her blood turned to ice as a feeling of pure dread came upon Kagome. The car was not there. It was not in the driveway. No… no… NO! She searched frantically and saw it heading down the street. She legs were tired and she could hardly breath, but she ran after it screaming, waving her arms in the air.

"Wait! Stop the car!" were her frantic screams. "Miroku! Sango! Stop!"

But the rain was coming down too fast and her voice could not be heard by the people in the car. She continued to run after it, pleading silently for it to stop, for whoever was driving to glance back and see someone was running after them. Forcing back tears, she continued to call out, knowing it was useless.

"Wait! Please don't go, don't leave me! Please."

The car turned the corner and Kagome abruptly stopped running, staring at the empty street in front of her.

They were gone.

Her legs gave way under her and she fell to her knees in the middle of the road, her legs useless. The tears came instantly, flooding her eyes and falling to the ground along with the rain around her. She was on her hands and knees on the road while her body shook as she sobbed uncontrollably.

No this wasn't happening. They couldn't be gone. This was all a dream… no a nightmare_. Please, let it be a nightmare that I can wake up from_, Kagome thought.

"Come back," Kagome whispered, her voice cracking as she pleaded with the deserted street, "please come back."

She never got to tell them that she wasn't mad at them anymore, that they were her friends, her best friends and that she loved. They were gone from her life forever, never coming back and they left thinking that she hated them. That she hated them so much she had not even come to say goodbye.

She sat there in the middle of the road, weeping as thunder boomed overhead. She did not care that she was in the middle of the road, daring, maybe even hoping, for a car to come along and hit her.

"You promised me!" Kagome screamed at the empty road. "You promised you would never leave me behind!" She couldn't even see anymore, her eyes blurring with tears. "You promised," she whispered.

* * *

Kagome was covered in bruises and she was extremely lightheaded. The doctor had told her she would be like that for a few since she had lost so much blood when the eighth graders had cut her across her wrist. He said he was amazed she was even still alive. 

It was now the day after that fight where the boys had almost killed both her and Sango. She wasn't sure why neither of them were dead, but for some reason the boys had backed off. The two girls did not know why because they had both been knocked unconscious at the time. The deli owner had found them later on however and had immediately called 911.

But Kagome could not stop crying. It wasn't because she was scared about what had happened, no, she was use to getting into fights with older boys with Sango at her side. No, she was crying because the boys had taken something from her, something precious.

Sango had come to visit her that day, but had only found a hysterical Kagome. Kagome's mom did not know what was wrong and left it up to Sango to find out.

"Kagome, why are you crying?" Sango asked her softly.

"It's gone… lost forever…" Kagome cried silently, not looking at her friend.

"What's gone?"

"The boys… they took it…my dad's…and it was mine…" Kagome sobbed.

Sango hugged her friend. "Just tell me what happened."

So after an hour of incoherent mumbling Sango got an idea of what was wrong and then she was gone, but Kagome was too grief stricken to notice.

She could not believe they had taken it. It was as though they had taken her still beating heart out of her chest and stomped all over it. Which was not a good analogy because they had seemed like they had wanted to kill the two younger girls just yesterday and taken something of hers to make up for not killing them.

It was the only thing her dad had ever given to her and all the memories she had of her dead father were tied in with that necklace he had given her. Kagome remembered how he had sat her in his lap and rocked her gently back and forth then presented her with a necklace. He had told her it was an old family heirloom and that all the woman on his side of the family were given it, so it was given to her right after her grandmother had died. He put it around her neck and had gently rocked her back and forth until she was asleep.

And the bullies had taken it away from her. The only thing of her father's that she had left. The only thing she remembered about her father.

It was well past midnight that night when Kagome heard a knock from her window. She opened it and Sango climbed in. She had climbed up the tree to her window, which was quite an accomplishment with one hand in a cast.

"What are you doing here?" Kagome asked, perplexed. She eyes were red and the tears were still falling. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

"I have something for you," Sango said slowly. "Now close your eyes."

"Sango, please, I don't want to play any games," Kagome told her.

"You'll like this, I promise."

Kagome closed eyes, the tears still falling through closed eyes.

"Hold out your hand."

Kagome obligated. She felt something cold and small fall into her hands. It was at least some part metal.

"Now open your eyes," Sango commanded.

Kagome did as she was told and her eyes widened as they fell upon the object in her hand.

"My…my necklace…" Kagome looked at her, her eyes drying for moments. "But how did you…?"

"I went back and got it for you."

Instead of being overjoyed like Sango thought she would be, Kagome became angry. She took her pillow and began to beat Sango with it, careful of her arm with the cast.

"You idiot!" Kagome yelled, her eyes starting to tear again. Then she threw herself at her friend to hug her and whispered, "you could have been killed!"

"No, I snuck into their hideout when they were gone."

"But why didn't you tell me? I would have gone with you!" Kagome yelled. She kept going back and forth between happiness and anger.

Sango shifted nervously. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Well you could have gotten hurt also! Never leave me behind again!"

Sango nodded and said, "alright. We'll look out for each other from now on."

Kagome shook her head. "Promise me. Promise me you'll never leave me behind again."

Sango nodded again and raised her right hand. "I, Sango, promise to always look out for you and to never leave you behind again. Now you."

Kagome mimicked her, raising her right hand. "And I, Kagome, promise to always look out for you and to never leave you behind." Kagome laughed suddenly. "I feel like I should be knighted now and be given a sword or something."

"Well, here." Sango walked over to her dresser table and looked at the contents on top of it. She found two pink rings that come out of that machine when you put twenty-five cents into it, and gave one to Kagome. "This is how we'll remember our promise."

Kagome put it on her pinky finger. It was way too big, but that meant she would be able wear it when she got older too. She raised her pinky finger and Sango raised hers and locked them together in a pinky swear as the girls smiled brightly at one another.

* * *

Kagome was being weighed down by her clothes. They were well over soaked through but she could not bring herself to move from where she sat in the road and the tears would just not stop coming. Kagome was not sure if they would ever stop. 

She was not sure how long she knelt there, she only knew that it was a long time. Her breathing had long ago returned to normal and so had her heartbeat but she was far away from calming down. Kagome kept sobbing and shaking involuntarily as she stared dully at the pavement.

She had no one now. No one to spend day after day with. No other friends. She was just alone.

The thunder that had been booming stopped a long time ago and now the rain began to let up. Soon there was no rain at all. The cloudy sky began to disappear and the sun came out. Its warm beams fell on her, though they did her no good. She was sure the world was torturing her for being so foolish.

If only she had looked back into her past before, then they never would have left her. She would have realized earlier that they were still and always had been her friends. Just because they were sent to protect her did not mean they had to like her, but they did anyway. They must think horribly of her now and were probably angry at her for not showing up. Even if they were not angry at the moment, they would be later and she could not blame them. She had been a horrible friend toward them for the past month. They deserved go somewhere where they were wanted. But she wanted them, wanted them to be her friends once more.

"Kagome, why are you crying?" a voice in front of her said. Had see imagined it? She continued to look at the pavement, not wanting to look up, because if she look up, she wouldn't be there.

"They're gone… lost forever…" Kagome said softly, the words taken almost right out of her memory.

"Who's gone?" was the whispered question.

She felt little droplets of water fall onto her hands. No, not water, they were tears. Someone was crying. She looked up, slowly afraid of what she might see.

And there they were. Sango was standing over her, tearing falling from her eyes and Miroku was standing next to her with a watery smile on his face. Were they really here? Had they come back, or was her mind playing tricks on her? Had she passed out and not even noticed it? There was only one way to find out.

"Sango! Miroku!" Kagome jumped up, not even noticing the pain in her legs, and hugged her two friends and they hugged her fiercely back.

All of them sat in a heap in the middle of the road, all of them crying, though Miroku only contributed a few tears. He was a man, so he felt that he needed to be composed at all times which made Kagome smile slightly just thinking about it.

"Why did you come back?" Kagome asked faintly.

"Because I made a promise."


	5. Chapter 5: Reacquainted

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

* * *

****

In a World of Demons

Chapter 5: Reacquainted

* * *

His nails rattled against the arm of the chair in an annoyed manner. The girl with power was becoming troublesome and all the demons he sent after her came back dead. Most were of weak variety, therefore he did not care much that they had never come back. He supposed one human girl could take care of them, but Hiten and Manten… they were strong. How was she disposing them?

* * *

They sat together on the grass in comfortable silence. They had spent the last two weeks together, acting just like normal friends would and none of them had brought up anything about demons. Miroku had figured it was better for Kagome to decide when she was ready, otherwise she might have gotten angry again, and Sango could only agree. So they were normal friends once again, giggling and laughing, but all good things must come to an end. 

The time had come to start discussing it.

Kagome sighed as she saw Miroku and Sango exchange many glances every few minutes. It was obvious they wanted to discuss some things concerning events a few weeks ago and she had to admit, it was time. She knew they would not talk of it unless she brought it up. Yet she still wanted to keep these few weeks of silence to her for a few moments longer. Kagome feared, no, she knew, her life was about to get hectic and all she wanted to do was to stay with the comfort of the past.

Kagome tucked her hair behind her ear, nervously. "So I guess it's time we talked."

Sango looked visibly relieved. "If you think you're ready…"

She knew Sango only said it to be nice because all three knew the discussion was coming sooner of later and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Kagome gave a curt nod. "I'm ready."

"I don't know where to begin," Sango said.

"Why don't you just ask and we'll provide what answers we can," Miroku compromised.

"Alright… well what are you exactly? I mean, I know you're human… but I saw you take on those demons, in those weird outfits no less… so what are you?"

Sango answered for them. "Well, I've been trained since I was little, and my brother too, to be a demon slayer. I didn't have a choice when I was little, everyone in my family, on my dad side, is one too. It's one of the reasons my parents divorced. When my mom found out after she married… lets just say she wasn't happy. My parents fought for along time throughout my childhood… until they finally divorced. My mom tried to get custody of both of us so we wouldn't have to live the life of a demon slayer. We, Kohaku and I, we were offered a choice, to live with our mom or our dad. At the same time, I was offered to watch after a young girl with strange powers… you. Kohaku chose my mom and I chose my dad… chose to continue being a demon slayer. My dad and I moved out of our house to live here, so I could look after you."

"Wow," Kagome said. It was the only thing she could say. Just… wow. Kagome swallowed a big lump in her throat.

"It's not your fault!" Sango told her hurriedly. It would have happened anyway, the only thing you effected in my life was where I moved to once my dad and I had to move out of my old house where my mom was."

Kagome nodded, faintly. "So you're a demon slayer… what about Miroku."

"Yes, I am and Miroku is, well, he's a monk."

Kagome just stared blankly at Miroku. Then what Sango had just said sank in and she started to laugh hysterically.

"What?" Miroku asked, quite annoyed.

Kagome was clutching her stomach as she laughed and gasped for breath to try to talk. Even when she did she had trouble talking. "I'm sorry….but… you?… a…monk! It's just a… really funny… thought! I mean… you are such…a lecher!"

From where they were all sitting, Kagome rolled over onto the ground, still giggling. Miroku had a half-smile on his face, while Sango laughed with Kagome, lighten both their moods again.

* * *

Inuyasha watched as she talked and laughed with her friends. They were back to normal again. Well, yippee for her. That meant he could go back to normal too, and that meant walking away now and never talking to her again. She was too much trouble anyway. But he couldn't help feeling remorse, like he was leaving a part of himself behind. He shook his head. What was he thinking? He was the one that told her to get her friends back so he wouldn't have to be around her anymore. Too bad he used his big mouth way too much. 

Inuyasha had dropped in on the depressed girl here and there when she had been away from the other two. He had seen how lonely she had looked and wanted to lift her spirits. He would tease her, causing her to laugh and smile for him, just for him and no one else. He never let himself get close to her though, except for that one time where she had been crying and had thrown herself at him. He had held her and stayed with her for most of the night, but knew after that that he would have to leave. He could not be with Kagome.

That was in the past now and she did not need him, she had her friends now and everything was as it should be. So he could go on ignoring her like he always had before. Of course, he had ignored her before he had ever talked to her. After saving her, making her smile, and just talking to her, he felt attached to her… but no! He was not going to be her little demon lapdog. He would just walk away now and everything would go back to how it should be. Just walk away and he would be alright. Then how come his feet refused to move?

* * *

Kagome saw something out of the corner of her eye and saw Inuyasha glance at the three of them, sitting together. His gaze locked with hers, his eyes holding… regret? Then he began walking away. She quickly got up and walked toward him. 

She heard Sango call her name, but she ignored it. What was Inuyasha doing? Just by the way he had looked at her, she knew his glance was a finally farewell. But why? She would not let him walk away and leave her. Kagome was not letting anyone she cared about leave her again. Kagome, however, was too busy worrying about him leaving that she had not noticed that she had just admitted she actually cared for him for the first time.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kagome asked Inuyasha when she caught up to him.

"What're you talking about?" he responded brusquely.

His answer did not phase her. She did not respond, but suddenly took his hand with both of hers and pulled him toward where Sango and Miroku were sitting on the grass. Kagome did not take her eyes off him, walking backwards as she pulled him along, like he was a little child who had been lost.

"Come on," she said, tugging him along.

He tried to find an argument, but came up with none so he let himself be pulled by the girl. She abruptly let go and sat down next to Miroku and Sango. Cautiously, Inuyasha sat down across from her. So they sat, Miroku across from Sango, and Kagome across from Inuyasha, unbeknownst to them that it was the start of a close friendship.

Kagome's other two friends tensed at Inuyasha's presence, but slowly relaxed, though still on guard. Kagome pretended not to notice and gave Inuyasha a shy smile that warmed his insides then turned to Miroku.

"How did _you_ of all people become a monk?"

"It kind of runs in my family. We were all demon-fighting monks at one point in our lives."

"Okay, now it makes more sense than."

Kagome could not imagine Miroku becoming a monk on his own accord. He loved women too much for that, one in particular, though neither of them were smart enough to notice the attraction just yet. Sometimes, Kagome just wanted to scream at them and tell them to kiss and tell each other how they felt already, but both would never cooperate that way. She was not sure if they would ever get together but they did share a common bond in fighting demons together, so that was a plus for their relationship. Wow, now there's a sentence she'd never though she'd say.

"So why were you two sent, of all people?"

"Well, first off, we knew about demons, could deal with them and were the right age so that we could watch out for you and be in the same school and classes as you." She paused. "Actually that more like three in one, but… oh, well. Anyway, I was sent because I can fight demons and Miroku can sense the evil's presence, so that we'd be aware when there was an attack so we'd know when the demons were after you. Though over the years Miroku has learned how to fight so now he comes out with me, although I tell him not to." She made a face at Miroku but he smiled coyly back.

"So you do that every Saturday night?"

"No, not every Saturday. We can't fight during the week because we still do have to go to school and that sort. We were never actually told to go out fighting anyway, but I figured the more demons we killed, the less likely they are to get to you."

"Wait, so do you only go to school because I do, to look after me? Wouldn't you grades not matter?"

"We won't have to do this forever. When we get older we can go on with normal lives. Well, semi-normal, since we do know about the existence of demons. But we still need the good grades so we can get into college and then get a good job so we can have some money to live with. No one is paying us to do this."

They did not know how relieved Kagome was at that. They weren't getting paid to be around here, so they had stayed because they actually enjoyed her company. If she had been a bitchy girl, they might have left a long time ago.

"So who exactly sent you? And they don't know you go out at all?" Kagome inquired.

"No, they don't know we go out looking for demons on our own. They think we're just here doing what they told us to do, protect you. Although they were annoyed when we blew our 'cover' and you would not let us near you. They said, and I quote, 'you two cannot do your jobs if the girl does not trust you. You must gather your things and go and leave the girl alone,' unquote."

They had ignored her first question. "But who sent you?"

Sango and Miroku exchanged a look. "Um… well…" Sango said.

"We're not sure if we should tell you," Miroku contributed.

Kagome put her hands on her hips, which was awkward while sitting on the ground. "And why not?"

Sango glanced quickly at Inuyasha and then away.

"Look, he's a part of this now." Kagome explained, a bit frustrated.

"What makes you think it's about Inuyasha?" Sango said nervously while Kagome rolled her eyes.

She was a horrible liar. Now looking back on it, it was sort of sad that Kagome never picked up on what they were doing before. They had been horrible at keeping it a secret, she overheard them all the time. She guessed she never knew because, like a lot of other people, she had been unwilling to believe what she had seen or in this case, heard.

"Who says I want to be a part of this!" Inuyasha exclaimed. He had pretty much been ignored during the whole entire conversation so now he wanted to tell her what was on his mind.

Kagome glared at him and he faced away from her, hands crossed over his chest. _Stubborn idiot_, Kagome thought.

Sango and Miroku were glad about his defiance because now Kagome had forgotten what she had asked about the person giving them orders.

"You should have thought of that before you saved me! Twice! You're in this too now anyway because whoever's after me probably knows you've been helping me so they'll be after you no matter what, so it's better you work with us."

"I don't need any human's help," Inuyasha spat.

"Fine," Kagome said.

"Wh-what?" Inuyasha asked. Why did it seem this girl was always filled with surprises? He had expected her to protest or yell at him.

"I said fine. You don't want to except any human help, so fine, whatever. But…" Ha! He knew it! There was more to it. "…but would you except the help of a huntress, a monk, and a… what am I again?" she asked Miroku.

He shrugged. "We're not sure exactly."

Kagome frowned at his ignorance but continued, "and a whatever the hell I am?"

Inuyasha frowned at her, while everyone waited for his answer. What could he say? These demons were after him too and they might send more powerful demons after all of them. If he did not help them and did not help fight the demons, they might die. If he did not work with them, they all might die, including him because whoever was given the demons orders would send more powerful ones after Inuyasha that he might not be able to take on alone. He was still reluctant to agree to human help, but he had seen the two fight before and they could hold their own. And Kagome… well she needed someone strong to protect her until she could use whatever powers she had, then she might even be able to help him.

He sighed, defeated. "Alright."

Kagome smiled brightly at him and clapped her hands together, just the one time. "Good! Then we're all settled." Then she seemed to remember she had been asking the other two about something, but she could not quite remember what. "Wait, there was another question…" Kagome started, searching her memory.

Sango said hurriedly, "nope! That was it! We'll just be going now. Come on, Miroku!"

Sango pulled Miroku up by his arm. Miroku left happily, enjoying the idea of going somewhere alone with Sango.

Kagome watched them leave, puzzled. "What was that about?"

Inuyasha snorted at her ignorance and looked up. Kagome was looking at him, her head slightly tilted to the side, her lips twisted down in a slight frown. She was pouting, confused by her other friends' behavior. In her kneeling position, he watched as she put one elbow down on her thigh and rested her head in her hand, staring at him, her eyes still full of confusion and a sense of uncertainty. Why did he have to make a sound and make her attention focus on him? She took in a deep breath and let it out, as he watched her breasts raise and fall, straining against the shirt's material. Did she even notice the effect she was having on him?

She was still a young, innocent girl, even if they were the same age. Even after finding out everything that really went on in the world, it had not broken her like so many others. She had retained the innocent, bright aura around her. He admired that greatly. He had grown up different from everyone else, and had lost everything innocent about him very quickly.

His gaze fell on her lips again, wondering if anyone had ever tasted them before. So red and full… he wondered how soft they would be. He felt himself lean in, not really knowing what he was getting himself into. Golden eyes locked with brown ones. She must of saw something unusual in his eyes because she shivered all the sudden. More than anything, he wanted to kiss her, taste her, and make her moan in pleasure. His eyes closed when their lips were only inches apart, still moving closer by the second, when suddenly…

"Inuyasha?" Kagome breathed, her voice unsure.

And her voice broke it. Whatever spell she had woven him in was gone in an instant. He growled and pushed her away roughly, making her fall to the ground. What the hell had he been thinking? He did not want to get close to anyone. This was a mistake. Ever letting himself get close to her before had been a mistake. He abruptly got up and stalked away, just to be anywhere but where she was.

Kagome watched, dazed, as he stormed off. What had just happened?

* * *

Kagome sat on her window seat, glancing out to the night's sky. The window was open, sending the cold night's air into her face, the blanket she had had wrapped around her now pooled in her lap. Her legs were tucked under her, one elbow against the windowsill and her head resting in her hands as her thoughts consumed her. 

Her minds kept reviewing the conversation of that day. It was nothing important really, just finding out about Sango and Miroku's past and who they were. Even though she was finding out new things about them, they were still her best friends, nothing would change that. She understood that now and was still so glad that they had not left and had come back. She knew how lucky she was that they had turned around and that now they were still with her.

The people who gave them orders whoever 'they' were, had allowed them to stay after the heartbreaking scene two weeks ago and after she promised not to push them away again. That lead Kagome to a question that had been bothering her, who was 'they' that Miroku and Sango always talked about? She never remembered them actually saying any names and it annoyed her now. She should be able to meet these people if they were trying to protect her. Would they help her with her powers?

Kagome might have gotten some answers out of Sango that day, her being a terrible liar, but she had gotten distracted and they had left quickly before she had mentioned her question again. Now that they knew she would ask, they had constantly changed the topic of discussion every time she asked. If Inuyasha, had not distracted her she might have had her answers.

Inuyasha. She blushed at just the memory of him and their almost kiss. Their eyes had locked and she had seen desire in his eyes, and she recognized it as the same thing she saw in his eyes the first time he had almost kissed her in her bedroom. She had trembled, but not because she was afraid, no, it was because she had never seen it in anyone's eyes before, not directed at her anyway. She had seen Miroku look at Sango that way many times before, with a total, complete desire in his eyes. Kagome had never expected to see such a thing in Inuyasha's eyes. But suddenly he had stormed away leaving her, a very confused version of her, behind. 

He had almost kissed her and that scared her as much as it excited her. Having little friends, she had never been kissed before. Sure, she had seen Sango go on some dates and Miroku go on ten times, no more like a hundred times, more dates than that, but Kagome had never been interested.

It was not that she lacked anyone to go out with. No, that was not it. As a child she had been an outcast, shunned by all the other children. Now, she was all grown up, far from the phase where guys thought girls were icky and vice versa, and she had turned into a young, pretty girl.

It seemed when high school started, all those boys that had always insulted her all throughout her childhood were now either hitting on her or shied away from her even more. She was a lot prettier now than she had been then and boys appreciated girls more in high school, but it wasn't like Kagome had ever paid attention to any of the boys. She did not need a boyfriend when she had friends like Miroku and Sango.

The bold had asked her out, while the shier boys stayed further from her. Kagome found it easier just to ignore them all together. Soon most learned to not even bother anymore, of course there were still a few, but Sango was very good at getting the most persistent to go away.

Never had she cared before what a guy thought of her before, but with Inuyasha…. For some reason she cared for him even in their short period of knowing each other and liked being around him. She felt like a normal girl when around him.

_Am I falling for him that fast?_ Kagome thought.

Kagome sighed heavily and reached up to close the window in an attempt to warm the room again. She left the blanket on the window seat and curled up in her warm bed to sleep, not noticing the golden eyes that had been watching her in the darkness.

* * *

"Nice shot, Kagome! You're a natural," the gym teacher told her as he past by. 

Kagome smiled and went to retrieve the arrow she had just fired. Sango and her and been taking archery in gym for the past few weeks. Although Kagome had missed the first few classes, she had caught up easily to everyone's amazement. Most of the other students were having trouble hitting the target and a few were not able to fire the arrow more than a few feet in front of them.

Kagome made her way back over to Sango, arrow in hand. There were four people assigned to each target and they took turns firing. Sango was before Kagome in their line and they talked as they waited for their next turn.

"I'm envious," Sango told Kagome.

"Why? Because the cute gym teacher complemented me?" Kagome asked innocently.

Sango laughed. "Yeah, that and the fact that my arrow will hardly even leave the bow."

Kagome laughed with her as they continued to practice, Kagome hitting the center of the target almost every time. The conversation of the two girls in front of her caught her attention.

"Yeah, did you hear about it? The DOA gang is all riled up again," the first girl told the other.

The second girl nodded. "I heard they killed someone last week."

Kagome frowned and looked over to Sango. "DOA gang?" she said in a questioning way.

Sango gave her a critical look. "Don't tell me you never heard of them before?" When Kagome shook her head, Sango continued, "the DOA gang, or 'dead on arrival' gang. They named themselves believe it or not, they think it's appealing but it is catchy." She rolled her eyes but said in a lower voice, "those are one of the gangs that are actually a pack of demons. You'd best watch out for them."

Kagome nodded slightly and returned to practicing her archery. She looked over to the soccer field across the lawn, and Sango followed her gaze. In the far off distant, both girls could just make out Miroku and a flash of silver hair as the person sped by with the ball.

Silver hair?

"Oh, no," Kagome murmured, shaking her head slightly.

* * *

Inuyasha dribbled around all the defense players on the other team and shot at the goal. The goalie dove for the ball and caught it but Inuyasha had kicked the ball so hard that the goalie went tumbling backward into the net along with the ball, scoring another point for Inuyasha's team. 

The goalie got up, groaning from the pain after the ball impacted into his stomach. He weakly threw it to one of his teammates who brought the ball back to the teacher.

Miroku glared at the hanyou. "Can you at least try to give the other team a chance? It's a little unfair you being part demon and all."

"Feh, it's not my fault they're bad players," Inuyasha replied.

"Yeah and it's not their fault that you happen to have the speed and strength of a demon," he responded, rolling his eyes.

Inuyasha only shrugged and said, "it sucks for them then."

Miroku shook his head and headed back to his position as the ball was kicked off again by the other team. Inuyasha almost instantly stole the ball and shot it at the goalie who only watched as it went in and broke through the net, not wanting to get hurt again. He was pretty sure the soccer ball had bruised a few ribs as it were.

"Ball hog!" called one of the boys on Inuyasha's team.

Of course, he was correct and Inuyasha was pretty much the only person who had touched the ball for the entire gym class, but Inuyasha did not like the comment anyway. He growled and stalked over to the boy who had called out the name.

Miroku held Inuyasha's arms behind his back, in an attempt to keep Inuyasha from punching the boy out. The boy looked terrified now and looked like he might pee in his pants at any moment. The teacher was beginning to make his way over, trying to see what all the commotion was about.

"Guess what, Inuyasha? It's time for a breather. Why don't we leave all these nice people to play soccer," Miroku told him and began dragging the hanyou off the field.

Inuyasha growled some more but allowed himself to be taken away from the game. They walked back toward the school, knowing that going back now would be a bad idea for Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked over at the monk beside him. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what? Help you? If you're going to help us, then it'd be better if you didn't get in trouble constantly at school and draw attention to yourself. If the demons after Kagome don't know about you yet, let's keep it that way, alright?" he told him.

"Feh," was Inuyasha's only response, but he continued to walk beside the monk, thinking about what he just said.

Did he still want to help Kagome ?He knew the answer well. Yes, he did. But was it the wisest choice? Probably not. Anyone who associated with her was putting themselves in trouble although she did not seem to notice that yet. Her friends knew, but still stayed with her, wanting to protect her from the evils of the world.

The two girls suddenly appeared in front of the two and began walking with them, even though gym class what not over yet. Sango and Kagome had left their practice bow and arrows with the rest and had gone to join the two boys they had seen walking away from their class and toward school.

"Okay, what'd you do?" Kagome asked Inuyasha.

"Me? How'd you know I did something? How come it couldn't be Miroku?" Inuyasha asked, irritated.

Sango answered instead. "Simple. There are no girls in that class, so no one for Miroku to grope and get in trouble for. That leaves you. So what'd you do?"

"He almost beat the crap out of a guy, that's all," Miroku said causally, though he had a grin on his face from Sango's comment.

Kagome shook her head, disapprovingly. "Inuyasha…"

"Feh."

"Don't you have anything more to say then that?" Kagome asked, hands on her hips.

A few moments of silence ensued. "Nope," he responded.

Kagome sighed. They had reached the school and both Sango and Kagome head for the girl's locker room. Sango wound up having to slam the door in Miroku's face when he tried to peer inside. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and dragged Miroku off toward their next class, since neither of them had changed for gym.

He had thought talking to Kagome after what happened the previous day would be awkward, but it had not been at all. There was just something about her… something that put people at ease when they were around her. He was just so comfortable around her, but he should not allow him to get so comfortable around her. If he cared for her too much, it might get them both killed. At the moment, though, he did not even care. All he cared about was her and he needed to tell her that.

He decided that he would go and tell her tonight, when they were alone. He'd go and see her at her home and tell her what he felt toward her.

* * *

Kagome wandered the streets of the city alone. Not exactly the brightest thing she could have done, but it was not dark yet and she figured she'd be alright during the day. She did not feel scared during the day, though at night… the darkness always seemed to make things appear more threatening. 

She had had to quit her job, though Sango told her it was for the best. She often worked at night and it was no longer safe for her during the night's walk home. If she had not quit, she would have had to have either Sango or Miroku, or even possibly Inuyasha, walk her home after work and she did not want to do that to them. So with some regret she quit and now she had a lot of free time to herself.

As she walked along she thought of the conversation her and Sango had in the locker room. A small smile played across her lips as she replayed the conversation in her mind.

* * *

Sango was lying down on one of the benches in the girl's locker room while Kagome sat on the floor leaning against a locker, her knees drawn up to her chest. The period was only half way done so they had some time to kill before next class. They could have gone down to the cafeteria, but the girls were too lazy for that and it was much quieter in the deserted locker room. 

"Sango?" Kagome asked, tentatively.

Sango eyes were on the ceiling, one leg draped over the bench, her arms behind her head. She looked over to Kagome after she spoke her name.

Their eyes met and Kagome bit her lip. It was now or never, she thought. Though she doubted Sango would tell her anything outright but she might let something slip and her being a horrible liar, Kagome might figure some things out for herself.

"Who's they?" Kagome asked her friend.

Sango fell off the bench and onto the floor, with a small cry as she did so. She looked up at Kagome and tried to put a bewildered look on her fast, though failing miserably.

"They? They who?" Sango squeaked out.

Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes, but instead scowled at her. "You know who I mean?"

Oh, God, why did she have to corner me when I was alone? Miroku is such a better liar than me, Sango thought, I wish he were here. She thought about that and added silently, though he might wish he were here too, here being the girls' locker room.

"I… I can't tell you," Sango told her, trying to be as honest as possibly. She could tell the whole 'pretending to be puzzled' thing wasn't going to work so almost entirely honest was the next best thing.

"Why not?" Kagome told her, arms folded over her chest.

"Because I was told not to," Sango said truthfully.

Kagome bit her lip, thinking. Okay, obviously she wasn't about to get any information about them from Sango, she just keep answering with no information or change the subject so…

Kagome nodded her head, deciding. "I want to met them then."

"What?" Sango squeaked out.

"These people, they know so much about me, know about my powers work possibly. Why can't I meet them, or why can't they teach me? It would make more sense then what happening now. Me just getting attacked and running away with my tail between my legs isn't exactly going to work forever."

"I don't know…"

"Are they really all that scary?"

"Scary? No, no, not that. But…."

What could she tell Kagome? The people who gave her orders still wanted to observe Kagome a while longer before they decided anything. They still were not sure if they could trust her yet, which Sango found absurd, but she still had to follow their orders, for now at least.

"I'll ask them and tell them you want to meet them," Sango told her. Kagome squealed happily and hugged her friend. Sango added, "but I can't make any promises!"

* * *

Kagome's smile was still on her face. Soon, she might be able to meet the mysterious 'them' and start to understand more about herself and these weird powers of hers. 

She continued walking along the road but stopped when she heard some meowing. Kagome looked around for the source of the cry, but she heard nothing. Then it came again and she was positive it was coming from the alleyway coming up just ahead.

Turning into the alley, she followed the sound of the meowing until she reached an old tattered blanket. She pulled it up to find a small kitten tangled in an old, brown yarn ball. The kitten was almost entirely golden with black feet, a black diamond on its forehead, and black stripes on its tails. She did a double take. Tails, plural? Yes, the kitten had two tails, and it's eyes were red, which was not exactly normal. Either way, the kitten was terribly cute and continued to cry, wanting to be let out.

She smiled at the kitten. "Hello there. No, don't worry, I'll help you out," Kagome told it.

She continued to coo soothing words to the kitten as she helped it out of its dilemma. When she finally finished untangling her—she assumed it was a her, although she did not know—the kitten jumped up onto her shoulder and rubbed against her cheek, purring.

Kagome laughed and petted the small animal. "Well, I like you too."

A crunching sound of footsteps walking over some trash from behind her caught Kagome's attention. Before she even had time to whirl around a voice reached her ears.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little bitch," the male voice rumbled behind her.

Kagome spun around, holding the kitten close to her. The boy in front of her was her age and he looked vaguely familiar but she could not place him in her memory. He continued on walking slowly forward, as she was tempted to take a step back. He was quite large in a muscular way and exceptionally handsome all the same. Still, his good looks were a cold kind that made her want to turn and run right then, but her feet remained frozen.

"I'd know that scent anywhere and that smell of power. It's been, what? Six, seven years since we last met?"

Kagome face was totally perplexed. She could not remember this boy at all. Six years? That would be when she was in middle school, but she had pissed off a lot of people in middle school and she did not quite remember him.

"Who are you?" she asked, bewildered.

He frowned at the puzzled look she had on her face. "What, you don't remember me? Was I not important enough for you to remember? I did threaten your life, but I suppose you have a lot of those now days, don't you?"

Suddenly Kagome felt the weird vibes coming off him, kind of like what she felt when she was near Inuyasha, but slightly different. Then it hit her.

"You're… you're a demon," she said, "but I didn't know any demons when I was younger."

"Correction, you didn't know demons existed when you were younger. They were all around you, hun," he told her.

He was right in front of her now, looming over her small body. The kitten that lay on her shoulder hissed and growled at the demon in front of Kagome. She swatted a small paw at the demon when he got too close, but he just moved easily out of the way.

"I owe you something from a long time ago," he told her softly, though definitely not in an innocent manner.

Well this was a new one for her. This demon did not want to kidnap her like the others, the demon wanted to get revenge on something she could not even remember.

The demon raised a hand and backhanded Kagome across the face. She called out in pain, her vision having gray spots all over and getting darker by the second. He had hit her harder then anyone else had hit her before, even with all the demons that seemed to be abusing her lately.

Great, I just got rid of the last bruise on my face and he give me a new one, Kagome thought dryly, an odd thought to have before she fell unconscious.

He smiled at her limp form on the floor. "Just like old times," he whispered as he kicked the body in the stomach.

The kitten hissed again and scratched at the demon's leg but he kicked the cat away, slamming her into the side of the building, knocked out just like the girl.

He continued to beat up the defenseless girl, needing his revenge after so many years. She really had done nothing wrong all those years ago, but in the end he had ended up the bruised one. Now he returned the favor.

A gust of wind came into the alleyway, a certain gust he would know anywhere, and the demon cursed mentally.

_Just like him always ruining my fun,_ thought the demon.

He turned around with a forced smile on his face and said, "hello, Kouga."

The wolf demon, Kouga, eyed the body of the girl and then one of the wolves in his pack, Yukio. The humans knew them as the DOA gang, not knowing truly that they were a pack of wolf demons, but it worked as a good cover for them so the demons excepted it. 

Kouga was the leader of the pack and had been since he was fourteen. Four years later, he still ruled over the others, no one being able to kill him yet for title as pack leader. That was the rule in their pack. To be pack leader, another wolf had to kill the last one. If the leader died for unknown reasons, then a competition was held.

"What have you got there?" Kouga growled, not liking the scent of power in the air.

"Nothing, just a human wench," Yukio lied.

Kouga could smell the lie in the air and growled deep in his throat. He looked over to the girl again, this time seeing her face and recognizing her also from many years ago, but he also remembered her from somewhere else. It was the girl the other demons were looking for.

"What are you doing with that girl?" Kouga snapped.

Knowing Kouga had figured it out, Yukio decided to argue at another point. "Naraku is our enemy and this is the girl he desires. We should kill her just to spite him," he said.

In the blink of an eye Kouga was in front of him and kicked him in his side, making him fall to the floor.

"I'm pack leader not you and I'll make those decisions. Stay away from the girl if you value your life," he told the member of his pack, then kicked him in the stomach, flipping him into the air until he crashed down against the ground, hard.

He looked down at the powerful girl, who he now stood over. What should he do now? He could not just leave her here unconscious on the floor. With a sigh he picked her up, throwing her over one shoulder and sped away toward his 'gang's' lair.

* * *

A/N: Damn it, I keep writing 'most' instead of 'must' and vice versa and 'tired' instead of 'tried'. It's getting on my nerves now. Grrrr. I always do it too and it's so annoying. (And I'm sure you all care so much). 

My thanks to all my reviewers. To any other readers: I hope you're enjoying it so far.

Oh, and FYI: in this fanfic, Kouga can still run really fast, but he doesn't have the tornado with him now since that would be a little too odd, people seeing a tornado run by them everyday so instead he's just a gust of wind when he runs


	6. Chapter 6: DOA Gang

Disclaimer: I don't own the show Inuyasha, but I do own Yukio. He's my OC. (Woo hoo!)

* * *

**__**

In a World of Demons

Chapter 6: DOA Gang

* * *

Inuyasha sailed through the night's air, jumping from one branch to another, with only a little moonlight as light. Not that he needed it. He was actually glad for the little light, because then he had a less chance to be seen. It was inconceivable, some of the odd stories people made up so as to have an explanation after seeing a person soaring through the air. 

Before he knew it, he was standing in the tree beside Kagome's bedroom window. A wave of nervousness came over him. He was here, but what exactly should he tell her? His mind went blank and Inuyasha began to think coming was a bad idea. Maybe he should just go now and forget about telling her anything at all….

His gaze was drawn again to the window and the darkness inside it. It was hardly after ten, was Kagome asleep already? Well if she was asleep maybe he should come back later…. He shook his head. That was the cowardly way out and he never wanted to be accused of being a coward. With a last sigh, he opened the window and slid quietly into the room.

"Kagome?" he called.

A frown appeared on his face. Something was not right and he recognized it immediately. Kagome was not here. The bed was still made and her clothes for the next day were not draped over a chair like they usually were, which meant she would not be elsewhere in the house either.

He growled in frustration and worry, wondering where she was. The little idiot probably went out by herself again, were his first thoughts. He feared the worst, believing that maybe another one of her enemy's lackeys got their hands on Kagome.

Inuyasha jumped back out the window, not even bothering to close it again behind him. If he worked fast he might be able to pick up some sort of trail if she had not been taken too long ago. He did not even want to think of what would happen if he could not find her.

* * *

"So what's with the human bitch?" one of the many wolf demons in the room said. 

"Yeah, she's kind of cute for her kind," another commented, moving closer to Kagome.

Kagome moved further away from the demons, shoving herself tightly into the corner of the room. She had woken up a few hours after getting knocked out, to find herself in the main room of one of the bars downtown, but that had not been all. The room was quite large and had quite a few number demons in it. Yeah, more like a hell of a lot of demons.

The bar was actually a nightclub too, but only the toughest people came to it. It was no place for human teenagers and she now realized that most of the people that did some to the nightclub were actually demons, which explained the harshness of the bar. It was one of the roughest in town and unlike some others, it was closed during the day, which told Kagome she had at least been out for all of the night and into part of the day. Who knew what time it was now and she did not feel like asking the demons around her. She did not want to be around the demons at all.

So this was the Dead on Arrival Gang, she thought as she glanced around. Most looked fairly young, like they could be in their teens or their twenties, but who knew how old they really were. Demons did not age like humans and most would have the appearance of youth until otherwise killed. Miroku had told her that demons could not be killed by old age, but most could be killed by any other means, just like humans. The fact that they could die was an odd comfort to Kagome.

Kagome could tell there was also a reasonably number of demons in the back rooms too since she could feel their presence like a tingle in the pit of her stomach. There were a few drunk wolf demons stumbling around and more passed out on the floor, but not enough were passed out for Kagome's liking. There were five demons surrounding her at the moment, closing in on her from her squished position in the corner.

Why would they not just let her go? And where was the demon that had knocked her out? Were they working with the enemy that seemed so anxious to get his or her hands on Kagome? Or did they have designs of their own? Both thoughts made her want to shiver with fright, but instead she stuck out her chin defiantly, masking her terror. The fact that she was jammed into a corner did not help, but it would have to do. Kagome did not want to be any closer to the pack of demons then she had to be.

"You stay away from me," Kagome threatened, unconvincingly.

They smiled cruelly at her, paying no heed to her declaration. One of the demons reached out a hand and grasped her chin, tilting her head upward and bringing his face close to hers.

"So cutie, how's about a kiss?" he asked huskily with a devious smile curving his lips upward.

Her heart thumped hard against her chest. She did not want to kiss this demon in front of her, but she was not sure she had much of a choice. Call her old fashion or a daydreamer, but when Kagome had her first kiss she wanted it to be special, to actually mean something; a kiss she could look back on when she was old and gray that would still bring a slight smile to her face. Kissing the demon in front of her would kill any of the little fantasies Kagome had in her head.

A sudden image of Inuyasha popped into her head. If he had just kissed her before, maybe her heart would be beating so fast now. She shook her head. Who the hell was she fooling? Her heart was pumping so fast because she was scared of what might happen after the kissing. Just how far would the demon go? What did his scheming mind have planned for her?

His lips hovering inches of hers, her eyes wide with fright, she fought herself to keep from slapping the demon. Provoking him was something she so did not want to do. Just when she almost lost control over her hands and before his head came down so his lips could meet hers, someone picked up the demon and threw him across the room. Inuyasha was the first thing that came to mind and she looked up with hope-filled eyes, only to have her gaze fall on another stranger, well, actually two strangers, but only one did the throwing.

"Kouga wants everyone to stay away from the girl, that includes you," the demon who had helped her growled. He turned to Kagome and gave an apologetic smile. "Are you alright?"

_I'm stuck in a bar with over thirty other demons around me, should I seem alright?_ was what went through she head. Out loud she responded, "Fine. Why are you being so nice?" Kagome asked suspiciously, getting right to the point.

He shrugged. "Boss doesn't want you hurt," he said simply, "I'm Ginta and this is my brother, Hakkaku."

The demon behind Ginta nodded in acknowledgement and Kagome nodded back, though somehow she did not want to give her name back so she said just as simply, "nice to meet you," though she would soon have to see if her words were true or not.

She still did not know what they wanted her for and if they wanted to use her like the rest. No offense to her two close friends, but everyone seemed to have a plan for her, so that probably meant these demons did too. If that were the case, Kagome would rather stick to herself as much as possible. There was still the possibility that they did not know of her powers, but then they would have brought her to their lair for another reason and that reason she definitely did not want to know.

"It's a little rude not to give a name back," said a male voice from the shadows.

He walked out, showing Kagome that he was in fact the demon that had knocked her unconscious in the first place. She stood up, moving slightly away from the wall, not wanting to seem like a weakling even though she was scared.

She glared hard at him and their staring contest began. "You seem to know me already, so why don't you just tell them my name for me," Kagome told her attacker, Yukio.

"Never did learn it, never did really care, sweet," Yukio told her, his voice dripping with malice.

He took a threatening step forward, his cold blue eyes still locked with her brown ones. Kagome remained frozen, not daring to move in the least, feeling a bit like a deer caught in the headlights, except with her, there were headlights coming in all directions and all of them seemed about to crash into her.

Another demon made his way over, his long black hair in a ponytail in the back of his head. He stood as though he was superior to the others, which probably made him the leader of the other demons. He did not look too happy and the frown that was on his face deepened when he saw the intensity which Kagome and Yukio stared at each other.

"Yukio," he growled warningly. Yukio, however, ignored him, as did Kagome.

Annoyed, the leader took hold on Kagome's upper arm and dragged her toward one of the back rooms, ignoring Kagome's protest. Unfortunately, Yukio also followed, with an annoyed look on his face. They shuffled into the room, while Kagome tried wildly to get away and the door to the main room was closed with a growl from Kouga, as though warning no one to disturb them.

* * *

Miroku walked up Sango's driveway and then onto her lawn, heading for her front door. She had not shown up for school that day and neither had Kagome, so he had left around third period and headed toward Sango's house first, figuring that the girls were probably together at one of their houses. 

He rapped on the door and Sango's father opened the door. His face had been expressionless but when her father saw Miroku a frown appeared.

"Hello, Mr. Kumiko, is Sango home?" Miroku asked Sango's father with a smile on his face.

"Hello, Miroku," her father said coldly, "she's upstairs."

Miroku nodded his thanks and hurried up to Sango's room, ignoring Sango's father's intense glare following him until he was out of sight.

"I'm getting the distinct impression that you're father doesn't like me," Miroku told Sango as he walked into her bedroom.

Sango rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I wonder why. Maybe next time you try to grope me as you leave, you shouldn't do it when my dad's in the room," she told him, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

She lay on her stomach on her bed, petting a kitten that was jumping around furiously trying to get her attention. The kitten was golden with black feet and a diamond-shaped patch of black fur on its forehead, with black stripes going through its two tails. It looked very anxious to do something, its red eyes wide.

"Getting demonic pets, are we now?" Miroku asked, one eyebrow raised as he looked at the small youkai on her bed.

"She showed up at our front door yesterday, scratching the door to pieces. She's very anxious and I don't know why, but she keeps rubbing against my leg and then running toward the nearest exit," she told him.

Miroku sat down next to her and petted the youkai, who was still meowing urgently. "So you skipped school to baby-sit a demonic cat?"

"Uh-huh," she said, putting her head down on the bed so she was eye level with the youkai.

"It's obvious the cat wants you to follow… her, I think you said?" he said.

"It's a her, and yeah, I know, but do you think it's a wise idea to follow any type of youkai?"

"It looks harmless," Miroku said, eyeing the cat that was now rolling back and forth on the bed while purring, enjoying the attention it was getting from both humans.

"Its master might not be. The cat might just want to lead us to its owner and that could be a powerful demon."

"Well, then why don't we suit up and follow?" he suggested, eager to fight. If he was not at school, he might as well do something productive.

Sango thought about it then nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Miroku looked around the room, finally noticing something. "Where's Kagome? Is she not here?"

Sango stood up automatically and stared hard at him. "She wasn't at school?"

Miroku shook his head and both had the same worried look on their face. The cat youkai suddenly bolted from the bed and scratched eagerly on Sango's door, more excited then before. The cat was practically doing back flips to get their attention. Come one, come all, to see the amazing acrobatic youkai!

Miroku looked at the cat oddly and finally Sango asked, "what?" Miroku continued to stare but began voicing his thoughts. "You don't think…? Does that youkai know…?"

Sango seemed to understand and said, "then what are we waiting for?"

The two stayed in civilian clothing since it was still during the day and anything else would make them stand out like sore thumbs. Instead of bringing her hiraikotsu which was much too large to be discreet, she hid a sword under the large coat she was wearing and various other weapons she had been trained in over the years. Miroku did similar and with a nod, he opened the door and both followed the running youkai to wherever it was she wanted to bring them.

* * *

The leader of the pack of demons threw her onto the couch in the backroom, somewhat roughly. She made an "oomph" sound as she fell onto the stiff springs that dug into her back. 

"You don't have to be so rough!" she told the leader.

He eyed her oddly. "You shouldn't be the one to make requests here."

A chill suddenly went through her. The other demon that had captured her, Hiten, had said something similar before striking her. Would this wolf demon do the same for her speaking out of turn? Not that that would stop her from doing it, but would she have to face the consequences for her actions? No, just looking at him, she doubted he would. He seemed… different for the other demon she had been captured by and younger too.

She stuck out her chin rebelliously once again. "What do you want from me?"

He tsked at her, stepping closer. "That's another request."

She crossed her arms over her chest, now positive he would not hurt her—for now at least—and said, "no, it was a question."

"You still have no right to ask questions," the leader taking another playfully step forward, making it so they were a foot away from each other.

Yukio snarled and said to Kouga, "stop flirting with the bitch."

Kouga glared at him and in the blink of the eye was standing in front of him, holding a fistful of Yukio's shirt in a threatening way. "You definitely don't have a right to question anything your leader does."

Yukio brought their faces closer together and his voice was like rolling thunder, rumbling as he spoke lowly to him. "I'm not scared of you."

"Then challenge me. Fight me on the new full moon for the position of pack leader and we'll see who's boss after that," Kouga dared, knowing now that he had won.

Yukio looked away and Kouga let him go, satisfied. Yukio was not strong enough to go against Kouga and win. Not that he was weak, it was only that Kouga was stronger. The only reason he was not dead yet at Kouga's hands was because Yukio always stopped just in time to avoid a fight, though he was never happy about it.

Yukio balled his hands into fist that shook and thought, In time, in time I'll be able to beat you. "You win, Kouga," he said though their was a trace of frustration in his voice.

Kouga smiled cruelly while Kagome's blank face turned into a frown. Kouga… where had she heard that name before? She searched her memory until she find what she was looking for. A content smile came on her second for a split second, pleased she could find the memory, but changed into a scared expression when she remembered where it was from and who the two were.

The two had been part of a group she had made fun of that day she first met Sango. The demon in front of her now, Yukio his name was, he had been the one who had gripped her arm painfully while Kouga had told him to let her go, though Yukio had not listened and Kouga had just walked away with a shrug. At the time she had not known they were demons, but had been frightened all the same. Then Sango had come along and beat up Yukio who had drawn Kagome's blood with his nails. Kagome face paled as she remembered Yukio's promise of revenge.

She had remembered also when Yukio had sent teenagers to beat up her and Sango or worse. How could she not? They had been the one who had broken Sango's arms and almost killed her from loss of blood and had taken her most prized possession away from her, her necklace. Now she wondered if the people who he sent were actually other demons that were part of the pack. She shuttered at the thought of what could have happened if the owner of the deli they had been behind had not shown up and called the police.

Her eyes went over to Kouga wondering if he would interfere if Yukio did try to kill her in present time. He had not back then when they were in middle school, but now Kouga was pack leader and Yukio had to obey his orders. So far Kouga did not want Kagome hurt, though if Kagome got on Kouga's bad side, he might hand her over to Yukio for punishment, if only for his entertainment. She swallowed a lump in her throat, rising from the couch.

From the frightened look on her face, Yukio smiled. "Remember now, do you?" he said wickedly.

He took a step forward and she automatically took at step back as he laughed at her attempts. Seeing no point in trying to remain brave now, Kagome went behind the couch so it was now between them as he moved closer, slowly, seductively.

"You tried to kill me and my friend," she accused, while moving around the couch as he moved toward her, always keeping the couch between them.

"Yeah, and I would've succeed too, hun, if it had not been for your damn powers," he told her angrily.

"And Naraku would have killed you once he found out," Kouga added, stepping in front on Yukio so he was in-between the two. "So you're the lucky one."

"What about my powers? And who's Naraku?" she said.

Kagome felt terribly confused. Her powers? What did they have to do with anything? And who was Naraku? Was that another wolf demon? Well, at least now she knew for sure that they were aware of her powers, whatever they might be.

Kouga glared at Yukio who looked away and then sank onto the couch, arms folded over his chest. Kouga then turned to Kagome answering her questions.

"You're powers are what saved you that day. After Yukio got some of the wolf demons of the pack to go after you and your demon slayer friend, they would have killed both of you, nearly did, but after you fell unconscious a pink light surrounded you and your friend and protected you, knocking out any demon that tried to touch it, or so we heard. Neither of us were actually there, but the others told stories and we wondered if you were really the human of the prophecy, the one with the power." He paused, then continued, "as for Naraku, he's the demon who's been after you for the last couple of months."

"Sure let's tell the possibly deadly stranger everything," Yukio mumbled but was ignored by both human and wolf demon.

"You mean Naraku is the one who's been sending all those demons after me?" Kagome asked, slightly dazed by the new information.

She concluded that she need more room in her head for all the new information she was receiving. An added section that she could label "Demon World Information" that she could neatly organize all the data she was getting about the demon world, instead of where it was jammed in with the rest of her memory, conflicting with all the supernatural books and movies she had read or seen over the years, whose information was not that correct.

Kouga nodded. "That's right."

She looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you telling me all this? Aren't you on Naraku's side? Don't you want the world like it was before?" she asked him curiously, though suddenly thinking that maybe it was not the best idea to be putting thoughts into his head.

Yukio, who sat comfortably with his legs outstretched the spitting image of a bad boy, looked lazily over at Kouga. "Yes, why are we telling the little bitch all this?"

"Would you stop calling me a little bitch?" Kagome asked irritated.

"The truth too much for you, sweetie?" he said menacingly. She did not know which annoyed her more. When he called her bitch and other insulting names or when he used terms of endearment toward her.

Kouga had had enough. As quick as lightning, he had Yukio by the throat and slammed him into the wall behind him, making the wall tremble with the impact. A growl came deep within Kouga's throat as he spoke in a low, deadly voice.

"I'm fucking tired of you being a smart ass. If you won't shut your fucking mouth and stop insulting the girl, I'll tear out your precious voice box for you. How does that sound?"

Yukio stared daggers at him and croaked out, "peachy."

He gave his throat one last tight squeeze and let go, letting Yukio fall to the floor. Yukio got up slowly, while rubbing his sore neck, never taking his eyes off Kouga as he made his way over to Kagome. Yukio continued to glare at Kouga until Yukio finally got fed up and left through another back door that led outside to any alley, slamming the door behind him.

Kouga motioned for Kagome to sit on the couch while lazing on it himself. Reluctantly, Kagome sat down, wary of the wolf demon in front of her that had just threatened someone from his own pack.

She repeated her question from before. "Don't you want things how they use to be?"

He shrugged. "I like things as they are now. Some of the members of this pack are old and remember those former ways of demons and I've heard the stories, and that doesn't seem pleasing to me. I like this world of humans and you're technology. You have things like beer, sports, hot women in short skirts," he said while eyeing her own skirt, which she immediately tugged down while blushing. He continued, "music, night clubs, and you don't even notice when a few bodies go missing here and there. The list goes on. I like things better as they are now."

That sounded nice, except for the whole bodies going missing part. Could Kagome really trust his words? Though it did not look like she had much of a choice.

* * *

Sango ran slightly behind Miroku, who was faster than she was, as they ran after the demonic kitten. She began to recognize her surrounding and suddenly she knew where the youkai was leading them. She just knew somehow. 

The cat was leading them to the same place Sango had gone six years ago when she had retrieved Kagome's necklace for her. They were heading toward the liar of the DOA gang. She had lied to Kagome all those years ago when she had told her that she had sneaked in when everyone was gone. No, during that night the bar had been open and in full swing, but she had managed to get into one of the backrooms and grabbed the necklace before anyone had found her. She had been truly terrified when she did this, having been surrounded by over fifty demons, a majority of them not friendly, especially to someone who kills their kind. How must Kagome feel now if the cat was really leading them to her and if she was there?

Sango picked up the pace and so did the Miroku and the cat. They had to get their soon for Kagome's sake.

* * *

Kagome laughed as her and Kouga continued talking. They had been conversing about anything really for the last few hours, Kouga trying to make Kagome at ease in the bar, although she wondered if he was doing this because of his good nature or if he were trying to gain her trust so that he could use her in some way. 

They stayed in the back room since the bar would be opening soon, but that was fine with Kagome. She would rather not be around a lot of demons, thank you very much. Just feeling them in the next room was bad enough, which was weird on its own because before she could not sense demons, but lately she had been able to. One of her new powers, she assumed.

Kouga had explained to her one thing she had been very curious about and finally asked. Kouga, Yukio, and a few of the other younger wolf demons had gone to high school , but most had dropped out, though she learned Ginta and Hakkaku still attended high school. Most of the demons had gone to school, given up, and just did whatever the hell they wanted in this human world. They went to school as children so that they would learn about human culture and how to fit in, so if ever a time came when they needed to blend they would.

Demons like Naraku, Kouga explained, would never do this. They wanted so badly to bring the ways of old back, they would never when think about trying to fit in with the world that humans ran. They found it disgusting and all demons that associated and pretended they were humans were disgusting. That's why Kouga's pack was not allied with Naraku.

Overall, their conversation had been normal and light-hearted, except for the parts about Naraku, who Kagome was eager to learn about. She found she liked being around Kouga. He had been extremely nice to her the entire time during their conversation and she hoped it was not only because of her being what she was, a human with tremendous powers.

Kagome was about to open her mouth to ask something else when a large crash came from the other room that made her jump up out of her seat in surprise. Yelling came from the other room and more crashing sounds. Kouga got up and stepped in front of her, shielding her from the door and whatever was coming. Had Naraku found out where she was and sending other demons to take her away from the pack?

The door was kicked in and fell against the wall with a bang. In stepped a very pissed off hanyou, who threw the two wolf demons he was holding, Ginta and Hakkaku, into the room, where they collapsed on the floor.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried in shock. She tried to walk over to him, but Kouga held out his arm so that she ran into it and bounced backwards. He then stepped in front of her again, shielding her from the hanyou.

"Who the hell are you?" Kouga snarled.

"Don't you have ears, you asshole? She just called my name," he told him while stalking into the room. Kouga growled at him as he got closer and Inuyasha said, "give me the girl."

"No way, half-breed," he said, emphasizing the last two words, meaning it as an insult.

Kouga probably thought he was helping her, since he probably thought Inuyasha was anything demon sent by Naraku to fetch Kagome. Inuyasha too was trying to help her, although she liked being with Inuyasha better, since she did not know what other alternative motives Kouga had planned for her, although she doubted he would hurt her. Still, Inuyasha she knew she could trust because of all the other times he had saved her.

Inuyasha took another step forward. "Hand over the girl or die."

"How about….um, no," Kouga said dryly.

"Kouga…" she said with a sense of pleading in her voice. He turned to look at her, but that was as far as she got.

Two small black spheres rolled into the room. They were a few feet apart and after a few seconds they stopped rolling and everything was quiet as everyone in the room watched the two spheres as though mesmerized by them. Then they detonated and purple gas began to pour out of them.

Kouga and Inuyasha growled and jumped backward, Kouga taking Kagome with him as he went. The purple gas however filled the whole room and everyone inside went into fits of coughing, their eyes watering. Kouga stood behind her and pulled Kagome into him tightly, wrapping an arm around her waist.

When the gas began to die down, two blurry shapes entered the room that Kagome could not make out because of her teary eyes. They came toward Kouga and Kagome, but Kouga jumped into the air and landed on the other side of the room with Kagome, near Ginta and Hakkaku who were still on the floor.

The purple gas finally left completely and Inuyasha growled when he saw the wolf demon. He did not like how he held Kagome, his arm around her slender waist protectively and her soft body crushed against his. He could not even attack the demon either now because the way he held Kagome made her into a sort of shield for himself. The angry boiled up inside him and his dog ears, which popped onto his head whenever he got angry enough or felt stressed, appeared on his head and flattened in rage.

A hand gripped his shoulder and he whirled around to see Miroku and Sango come up beside him, facing against Kouga and his two wolf demons that got up to stand on either side of him. The six fighters were all ready in a fighting stance, except for Kouga, who still held Kagome.

The cat youkai that had come with her did not seem to feel the tension between the two groups or ignored it, because she ran right over to Kagome, climbing up her clothes until she sat on Kagome's shoulder and rubbed against her face while purring.

Kagome laughed at the cats attempts to comfort her, which lightened everyone in the room's mood, though Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha were a little shocked. Was she not in danger as they had thought?

Kouga's grip on her loosened although he did not let go, but she was able to lift a hand to pet the head of the youkai on her shoulder.

"Kouga, you can let go of me. These are my friends," she explained.

Kouga eyed Inuyasha, who's dog ears were still visible. "Even the hanyou?"

Kagome nodded and he let go of her, though Inuyasha and his eyes were still locked in a full out staring contest. They reminded her of five-year-olds. Ha! You blinked so you lose! she thought with a small smile.

She walked across the room, through the tension zone, and over to Sango.

"How'd you find me?" Kagome asked, puzzled.

Sango nodded her head toward the cat. "We played 'follow the leader' with the demonic cat," she said as the cat youkai jumped from Kagome's shoulder to Sango's.

"I guess she was returning the favor. I helped her get loose from some strings and she goes and tries to save me from some wolf demons," Kagome said with a half-smile.

Meanwhile, Miroku was staring intently at the frozen Inuyasha whose gaze was still locked with Kouga's. Neither had moved at all and seemed to have no plan of moving any time soon.

"Do you think if I pushed him, he'd fall over?" Miroku asked as though he were deep in thought on the matter.

Kagome pretended to scold Miroku. "Of course not. That's just a statue after all."

Kagome and Sango laughed while Miroku smiled at her comment. Inuyasha stayed frozen except for one of his white ears that twitched in annoyance. After a while longer as the staring contest continued, Kagome sighed and gently put a hand on Inuyasha's arm. Inuyasha turned sharply toward her, his gaze fixed on the hand that touched his arm delicately, her fingertips barely touching him. His face was expressionless so Kagome spoke softly to him.

"Inuyasha…" she said, letting her words trailing off there. She was not sure exactly what to say so she only spoke his name, but it seemed to do the trick because Inuyasha visibly eased up and his arm under her fingertips lost the tension they had only a moment before.

"You know this piece of dog-shit?" Kouga asked as he cautiously made his way over to Kagome and the rest, while looking at Inuyasha.

Kagome ignored the nickname for Inuyasha and responded, "these are my friends. That's Sango and Miroku." She pointed to each as she introduced them. "And he's Inuyasha."

Miroku and Sango nodded in acknowledgement though still on guard while Inuyasha just turned his face away. Obviously the two had not made good first impressions, though Kagome doubted they would have like each other anyway

Kagome turned to the wolf demon to introduce him. "This is Kouga, he's the leader of the Dead on Arrival Gang." She moved her gaze over to the over two wolf demons in the room. "And those two, that's Ginta and that's Hakkaku. They're brothers."

"That's nice, but why the hell are we even introducing ourselves?" Inuyasha asked angrily, "didn't these demons kidnap you?"

He turned to her, still angry while waiting for her answer. Inuyasha then saw the bruise that had formed on her cheek, much darker than the one that had been there before and his angry decreased as he looked at her. Slowly he placed a hand on her cheek, cupping her cheek. Kagome winced at the pain and jerked her head back, her eyes closed.

A growl grew in Kouga's throat as he watched Kagome draw back in pain. Neither did he like how tenderly Inuyasha touched her. The hanyou suddenly turned to Kouga when he growled and rage grew in his eyes, stronger than before.

Just like Kouga had done to Yukio before, Inuyasha took Kouga by the neck and slammed him into the wall, quicker than the human eye could see. Kagome saw the two standing a few feet away then she blinked and Inuyasha had Kouga by the throat.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, annoyed. What was he doing!

Ginta and Hakkaku looked like they wanted to jump in and helped their leader, but once they saw Miroku and Sango ready to fight them if they made a move, they stayed where they were, letting Kouga handle his own battle.

Inuyasha's nails dug deep into Kouga's skin and broke the surface, but then Kouga had kicked him in the stomach and Inuyasha fell backward. Kouga tackled Inuyasha and then both were sprawling on the floor, attacking the other whenever they had an opening.

"What do you want with Kagome?" Inuyasha yelled as he attempted to punch Kouga in the face but he jumped to his feet and Inuyasha followed.

"I'm not hurting her if that's what your thinking," Kouga responded, jumping backward as Inuyasha sent punches his way, not really aiming anywhere, just punching aimlessly.

"The bruise on her cheek says differently," he growled.

Inuyasha punches Kouga in his jaw and then managed to kick him in the stomach so that Kouga bent over in pain, then the hanyou swept Kouga's feet out from under him. He then lifted his foot to kick Kouga, but he disappeared and then Inuyasha was falling over, Kouga having had moved lightning fast and kicked Inuyasha over.

Kagome could follow Inuyasha's movements but Kouga was way too fast for her eyes. She could see that Sango too was having trouble seeing where they were going, but the grip on the sword she had taken out was tight. Miroku seemed to be able to see them better, but what he saw he did not like too much.

"I didn't give her that. One of my pack members knocked her out so I brought her here until she recovered," he replied.

Kouga elbowed him in the cheek and then in the back of the head, causing Inuyasha to fall face first into the ground. He picked up the hanyou by the hair so his face was off the ground then slammed it back down again.

Inuyasha growled and reached a clawed hand to him, yelling, "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"

Kouga had to jumped back to avoid the yellow streaks of power that came from Inuyasha's claws as he swiped them at the wolf demon, but he could not get away in time and four swallow cuts appeared on his stomach, running all the way across it.

"Is the person who hurt her dead?" Inuyasha asked, momentarily pausing in their fight.

"No," Kouga responded truthfully.

Inuyasha started charging at the pack leader, claws raised. "Then I'll hold you responsible!"

Am I suppose to be happy there are two guys fighting over me? Kagome thought as Inuyasha and Kouga continued to fight. She liked both of them and did not want either to get hurt, but what could she do to stop them?

She turned to Sango. "Could you get them to stop fighting?"

Sango shook her head. "Not without getting myself killed by one or both."

What could she do? She could not fight to make them stop and throwing herself in between them would only get her killed. Neither choice sounded fun anyway, so she did the only thing she could think of.

"INUYASHA!" she screamed.

His ears flattened on top of his head and he stopped in mid-attack. Both he and Kouga turned to look at her, curiously and slightly pissed off that she had interrupted their fight, especially when it was starting to get good.

"Would you two stop acting like children!" Kagome exclaimed, "we're on the same side here!"

The two demons eyed each other once again while Inuyasha said, "how do you know?"

"Because the demon that's after me is their enemy too," Kagome explained, getting frustrated. The cat came up next to her and rubbed against her leg in a comforting manner. Kagome could not help but smile and picked the small demon up and started to pet her as her mood lightened.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Miroku said with an eyebrow raised.

Kagome smiled slightly. "Exactly."

"So they know who's after you?" Sango asked Kagome, intrigued.

"Maybe we should sit down and discuss this," Miroku suggested.

Kouga nodded. "But not in here though, the bar is about to open soon."

Just as he spoke the music was turned on, raging on in the other room. The door and walls vibrated with the force of it and did little to stop the loud music from entering the room beside it. Kagome was just amazed at how they still opened the bar, even after Inuyasha had come in and half-trashed the place. Kouga opened a door and began to make his way down a hallway and the others followed reluctantly, except for Ginta and Hakkaku, who left on Kouga's command. They all felt like they were being led into a trap, except for Kagome who seemed to trust Kouga and the cat youkai, who just was following them contently wherever they went.

Finally he stopped at one room and opened it to reveal a giant bedroom. It was huge with a large canopy bed with red silk sheets covering it and too many plush pillows to count. The carpet was also plush, its color a slightly darker red than the sheets on the bed. The pillows were red and black, while the other furniture in the room were all black. It seemed like there were different sections of the room, one part the bedroom, the next part the living room with leather couches and armchairs, and a third part that had a glass table and black leather chairs, the kitchen part of the room. There was a door on the side in the bedroom part, which Kagome could only guess led to a equally marvelous bathroom. Just being in the room took her breath away. Living in this room probably made a person feel like a king, and that was what Kouga was to his pack. He was their leader, their king.

"You live here?" Kagome asked.

Kouga flopped down on the leather couch to one side of the room, the couch creaking with protest as he sat down, one leg off the side of it. The wounds on his chest were bleeding freely but he did not worry about them staining the couch. Either that or he did not care. "Yep. This is my pack's den. The other doors in that hallway lead to other rooms." He smiled. "None as grand as this though. The bar is just a front and also so we can earn some money, but mostly the wolf demons all live here. There are a few who don't but they live very close by."

"Well at least your living in style," Sango murmured, her eyes still taking in the beautiful room.

He smiled impishly and motioned for them to take a seat. Kagome took the seat next to Kouga, much to Inuyasha's annoyance, and Sango sat down next to her while the cat youkai sat on her lap, falling contently asleep. Grudgingly, Inuyasha and Miroku also sat down, each in an armchair.

Kagome's eyes were filled with soft wonder as she looked around the room, from the bed to the table, and the chair they were sitting on at the moment.

"I never would have expected you to live in such a luxurious place," she commented.

"Why because I'm a demon? There are a lot of civilized and peaceful demons, you know," Kouga told her.

"Yeah, too bad you're not one of them," Inuyasha grumbled. Kouga glared at him and he continued, "what's with the look? It ain't my fault your pack goes around stealing and murdering."

"That's how we live, it's how we've always'd lived even in the old days," Kouga shot back.

"Yeah, the old days that the demon who's after Kagome wants to bring back. How come you don't want it back?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

He gestured around the room. "If I did, I wouldn't have comfortable things like this. The world was completely different back then, or so I hear. If it changes again… the things the human have today, all that technology would be gone. It would be like living during feudal times. And what about you, dog-shit? Why don't you want it to go back to the way it was?"

Inuyasha stared at him coldly. "As you might have figure out—or not since you seem like a dumb ass to me—I'm a hanyou. I don't fit in when demons rule the world or when humans do, but with the human world, at least they're not trying to hunt me down and kill me."

Kagome stared at him in surprise. "Inuyasha…" she said softly.

Silence engulfed the room while Kagome watched Inuyasha and he had his head turned away from her. He could not stand the gentleness of her gaze at the moment. For once he wanted to feel angry and looking at her face, into her eyes, then all the anger and self-pity would seep away.

"So, what do you want to know?" Kouga asked, getting tired of the silence in the room.

"Well, what do you know about the demon who's after Kagome?" Sango asked the leader of the wolf demon pack.

"He's a powerful one with a lot of demon minions. Almost all of the most powerful full-blooded demons and under his control, which tells you a lot about his own strength, but he never does things himself, he always sends out others to do things for him."

"A name would be nice," Inuyasha said dryly.

"I was getting to that, hanyou," Kouga said, spitting out hanyou as though it were an evil word. "His name is Naraku."

"Naraku," Inuyasha whispered, his face growing paler by the second.

Kagome had already known the demon's name of course, but had not recognized it at all. She glanced at Miroku and Sango but they too had blank looks on their faces. They obviously had not heard it before either, but when Kagome saw Inuyasha face she glanced at his worriedly.

"Do you know him?" Kagome asked Inuyasha curiously.

He turned to her and had a look on his face she could not decipher, but he told her slowly, "No, I've just heard of him that's all. He's very powerful and almost all demons know his name. No demon has ever gone against him and lived." Inuyasha then looked at Kouga. "You're not siding with Naraku on this?"

"No, I don't like his plans. Me and my pack are going to help you, Kagome, instead," Kouga told them.

Kagome whipped her head around so she could see Kouga now. "What!" she said, perplexed. "Why would you want to do that? If no one has ever faced him and lived, why would you help me?"

"Maybe you should not have said anything and just have let them help us," Miroku murmured to Kagome.

"I don't like what he's doing and people in my pack have seen your power and how strong it is. If you could use it against Naraku, then we could win. I have a feeling if we kill Naraku, the rest will fall easily," Kouga told her.

"Wait, you saw her power? When?" Sango asked.

Kouga turned his gaze from Kagome to Sango. "The day that Yukio sent some members of the pack to kill you Kagome produced a barrier that saved you both after she fell unconscious and almost died."

"How do you know that?" Sango asked skeptically.

"It was the members of my pack who attacked you, though I wasn't leader at the time and neither was Yukio who ordered the attack, but he managed to get a few wolf demons to go after you. Not many demons like you, slayer."

"I wonder why," Miroku said dryly.

"You too, priest," Kouga added.

"I'm a monk," Miroku said, though Kouga only shrugged at his mistake, not really knowing the difference and not really caring.

Kagome chanced a glance at Inuyasha, who was being awfully quiet. She wondered what was going through his head at the moment, but could not find it in herself to ask. If he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. She had to trust that.

Sango, Miroku, and Kouga and continued talking but Kagome was not really paying attention, she was too lost in thought. Finally, Kouga's voice jolted her out of her dazed state.

"So I guess that's it," he said. He looked over at Kagome. "We'll be helping you from now on. If you ever need anything you are always welcomed here."

Kagome doubted she would take the offer since she did not like being surrounded by some many demons. Plus, even though Kouga wanted to help her, some of his pack might not feel the same way and he might not always be around to protect her if she ever came back to the bar. Instead of saying all that, she just smiled and nodded, saying, "alright."

He led them out of his bedroom and into the room that they had been in before when Inuyasha and Kouga were fighting. He brought them to the outside door so they would not have to go through the now opened bar but stopped just as he reached the door.

Kouga turned around an faced Kagome with a small smile on his face. He lifted one of her hands up to his lips and lay a gentle kiss on them. "Until next time," he told her.

Kagome blushed slightly and was relieved when he returned ownership of her hand. From Inuyasha's face she could tell he was less than happy, but at least he was back to normal now. He had been too quiet before.

With that last note, Kouga disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving just a small bit of wind behind him. All of them let themselves out and walked slowly down the street in silence.

It was later than any of them had thought. The sun had set and the nightlife began. Lights were turned on everywhere and the pounding of the music in the DOA gang's lair could be heard all the way down the next street. Cars zoomed by everyone once and a while as the walked on the sidewalk.

Finally Inuyasha sighed. "I'm not walking at your slow human pace, I'd rather just get home and sleep."

"Then just go," Kagome told him.

"No, I don't want to just leave you here. I'll take you home," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You have a car?"

"No," he said simply.

He did not feel like explaining because she probably would have said no and he could not rest easy until he knew she was home. Every time he did not keep and eye on her it seemed like she got kidnapped or someone tried to kidnap her, so he did the easiest thing. He picked her up, startling her greatly, and threw her onto his back and at the last minute the cat youkai jumped on too.

He jumped onto the nearest roof while hearing Kagome's startled cry and Miroku and Sango's protests but they were soon far away as he jumped from roof to roof, making his way quickly to Kagome's home.

At first she hung onto him tightly, afraid she would fall as they glided through the air, only touching the ground for moments before Inuyasha leaped up and jumped to the next roof. She was sure she was cutting off his air supply, but he said nothing, and she finally eased up. It felt wonderful being in the air. It almost felt like she were flying as the wind pushed back her hair from her face. A funny feeling started in her stomach every time they descended, just so Inuyasha could leap up again and they were air borne for a few more seconds, and the feeling delighted her. She could not help but laugh out loud in glee as the laughter built up inside of her.

Inuyasha smiled when she laughed but in a few more seconds they were at her house and he was standing on the tree outside her window. It was still open like it had been when he left to search for her the night before and he jumped easily through. He threw both her and the cat onto the bed so that they bounced as they hit it a few times and her laughter continued.

Inuyasha moved toward the window to leave and he heard her laughter end so she could say, "you don't have to go. I mean… if you wanted to stay for a while…"

He paused in his movement, one ear twitching as he considered it and Kagome tried not to laugh as she saw it twitch. It was just so unusual to see people with ears that when she did she felt like laughing. Not in a mean way, she just found them cute, but she knew if she told him that he would definitely leave so she kept her mouth shut.

He came over and sat on the edge of her bed cautiously and Kagome sat up, her legs tucked under her while petting the demonic cat next to her.

"What do you think Naraku will do when he finds out we've allied ourselves with Kouga's pack?" Kagome asked quietly.

"He'll probably try to destroy the pack to get to you," he told her truthfully.

She flinched at the thought of it. Even though they were demons, she did not want to be responsible for their deaths because they had been fighting for her. She could not even help them because she did not know how.

"What?" he asked her softly when he saw her flinch. She told him what she had thought and he responded, "it was their choice, they want to help you."

"No, Kouga wants to help me, and since he's their leader they have to do as he says, so some might not want to fight and die for me but they'll have to anyway."

Inuyasha shook his head and moved closer to her, moving more onto the bed. "It's still their choice. They'll voice their thoughts to Kouga and he'll decide then for certain. He's not stupid enough to risk all of his pack's lives." Inuyasha stopped to think about it. "Well, maybe he is that stupid, but he'd only do it for the right cause. Helping you is the right thing. If you don't win, humans become slaves again and fear the demons above them and the demons are cruel. They'll kill hundreds, maybe thousands, just for an afternoon entertainment. We need to beat Naraku."

"Thanks that really made me feel a lot better," she said dryly, "good to know the whole world is depending on little ol' me."

He reached a hand out and grasped her chin, making her look at him. "You're not little. You're strong and pure hearted. You'll come out the victor in the end."

"Do you really think so?" she whispered.

He gave her a crooked smile as he moved in closer. "I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't."

"Do you really think we'll be able to trust Kouga though? He was nice and sweet enough to me but…" she thought about it for a second then nodded. "I think we can trust him though."

A growl came from Inuyasha's throat. Inuyasha's hand abruptly dropped from her chin and fell limply on the bed. He got and walked to the window but stopped just in front of it, not facing her.

"Inuyasha…?" she asked confused. He had been so close, a comforting presence but then he had moved away and stood ready to leave.

"Goodnight, Kagome," he said brusquely, before he jumped out the window and out of sight, which only confused her more.

Why did he always leave her in a state of confusion?

* * *

"So the wolves are joining with the girl?" Naraku asked, tapping his nails against the chair. "How…interesting." 

"You could put it that way. Doesn't sound very good to me," one of his minions said, though they was hidden in shadows, leaning against the wall.

"No I suppose not, but the wolves are nothing. I could easily make them fall," he said, then added, "with your help, of course."

The minion smiled cruelly. "That's fine with me. I'd love to bring the pack leader down to his grave."

* * *

AN: I loved describing Kouga's bedroom. I want that bedroom. It looks so awesome in my head. 

I think I might write a Kouga/Kagome romance one day, but I don't want to get beaten up by all the Inuyasha/Kagome fans out there. It would be a change though. Don't get me wrong, in the series I hope that Inuyasha and Kagome get together in the end, but I like to read and write pairs that would not normally get together. It's fun that way.


	7. Chapter 7: Of Demons and Humans

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

* * *

**__**

In a World of Demons

Chapter 7: Of Demons and Humans

* * *

"Kouga?" Kagome said in surprise as she walked up the steps to the school's entrance, Sango at her side. "What are you doing here?" 

A little more than a week had gone by since Kagome had last seen Kouga at his pack's bar, or more correct, his home and seeing him show up at her school with Ginta and Hakkaku in tow surprised her. What shocked her more was thew fact that Kouga was in the school uniform the guys had to wear at school, though it was also quite funny since Kagome had only before seen Kouga in tight leather and the change was drastic. The same applied to the two wolves behind him, though they looked more comfortable then Kouga did. Like Inuyasha and Miroku, Kouga had decided against wearing the tie that went with the uniform. Was he just trying to blend in or…? Did this mean…?

He met her halfway down the steps to the double doors that lead inside. He took one of Kagome's hands and kissed it gently like he had done as a goodbye last time they had met. It seemed his way of greeting her and bidding her farewell. Ah, well, she was not complaining. If he ever went too far, Kagome could always trust Sango to hit him over the head with any large object nearby.

"Hello, Kagome," Kouga said.

After holding it for a few lingering moments, Kouga let go of Kagome's hand to her relief. He gave Sango a nod of acknowledge which she returned. Kagome said a quick greeting to Ginta and Hakkaku, who returned it with a nod of their heads.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated.

"I'm enrolled in high school again," he told her with a shrug, "I never did get past tenth grade before dropping out."

"Enrolled, seems like too big a word for you," Inuyasha said with a glare at Kouga as he came up next to Kagome in an almost protective way.

"Shut up, mutt-face," Kouga told him.

"But really Kouga, why are you here?" Kagome asked, curiously. This was the third time she had asked the question and hopefully he'd answer soon. Like everyone says, whoever this "everyone" was, third times a charm.

"I allied my pack with you so I might as well keep an eye on you at the same time. To take Naraku down I need to protect you so you'll be able to fight him. Ginta and Hakkaku were the only decent wolves of mine that were still in high school, so they transferred to this high school so we'd be able to protect you, if needed," Kouga explained.

_Should I feel flattered, or feel like I'm being stalked?_ Kagome wondered while Inuyasha gave Kouga a cold glare.

"I think the three of us are fine at taking care of Kagome already. We don't need your help. You're only here because you want to be close to her," Inuyasha accused.

Kagome felt her cheeks warm as Kouga answered, "you don't seem to be doing a good job at protecting her if one of my weaker wolves found her and knocked her out so easily."

He was insulting Inuyasha, for his inability to keep her safe, and Yukio and Kagome, for their weaknesses, all at the same time, although he did not realize this, only meaning to insult Inuyasha. He got a three for one special, it seems.

Ignoring the possible insult, Kagome asked, "you only finished up to sophomore year? How old are you?"

"I'm only eighteen, which is young in demon years. Some of my pack members are hundred of years older than me," Kouga told her. He jerked his head toward the two brother wolf demons. "Ginta and Hakkaku are sixteen like you."

He was only eighteen? That was only two years older than she was and he had his own wolf demon pack? Wait, hadn't he told her he was pack leader since he was fourteen? That was young to be a leader of a pack, wasn't it?

"Wait, so your only eighteen and all those older demons take orders from you? How does that work?" Kagome asked.

The bell that warned them first period would start soon sounded and the group walked inside, joined by Miroku, who walked next to Sango as they listened to Kouga and Kagome's conversation. Inuyasha did not seem too happy that Kagome had taken such an interest in the wolf demon. She had taken a similar interest in him when they had first meet too. No, he could not be jealous of the other demon already… could he? It was not like Kagome belonged to him or he made any claim to her, though he had a feeling Kagome would be pissed off if anyone declared a "claim" to her.

"Age doesn't matter with demons, only strength. I was stronger than the last pack leader, even though he was nearly three hundred, and I beat him fair and square after I challenged his position as pack leader. The rest of the wolf demons respect the strongest male," Kouga explained to her.

"You don't mind?" Kagome asked, eyeing Ginta.

Ginta shrugged. "Like Kouga said, we're still young too, so we'll except any leader who has proved himself to be the strongest."

"Kouga is fairer than the last leader anyway," Hakkaku told her.

She wondered if they actually believed that, or only said it because Kouga was standing right next to them, Their words sounded sincere so she excepted them, though she heard Inuyasha's snort of disbelief. She glanced at him and caught his eye for a moment before both of them turned away.

Sango and Miroku said a quick "see you later" as they turned down a different hallway, headed toward their first period class, leaving Kagome with the four demons. Well, technically, it was three and a half demons, but who wanted to get specific? Either way, it was not such a good thing since Kagome could easily feel the tension between the pack leader and the hanyou.

"I don't understand why you would want to come back to high school though," Kagome told Kouga, "I can't wait to graduate."

He shrugged. "I doubt I'll be here often. I'll probably skip a lot. I'm just here really to protect you. And Ginta and Hakkaku will be doing the same."

"You really don't have to—" Kagome began.

"But I want to," he interrupted, cutting her off with a sly smile. "Besides, I don't trust Yukio not to show up and try something."

"Would he really?" Kagome asked, worriedly.

"He might, but don't worry," he gave her a charming smile, "that's why I'm here."

She smiled back slightly while Inuyasha looked ready to choke the air out of him. Before he could, Kagome said quickly to Kouga, "don't you have to go get your schedule from the principal's office or guidance office?"

Ginta, sensing the danger, quickly took one of Kouga arms and Hakkaku took the other, while Ginta said, "that's right. Let's go, Kouga." With that, the two dragged their leader off down another hallway, while the students made way, watching the new boys go by curiously.

Kagome took Inuyasha's hand and dragged him through the crowded hallway to their first period class, which seemed to surprise him and all the students around them. No one had been seen around Inuyasha much, since most of the people in school were afraid of him and Inuyasha had made it a habit to stay away from Kagome during school, only keep an eye on her from afar.

"I don't like him," Inuyasha growled to her when she finally let go of his hand and they walked at a normal pace to their classroom.

"No, really?" Kagome said sarcastically.

"And he was flirting with you!" he said irritated, then added, "and you went along with it."

He said the last sentence like an accusation and she rolled her eyes as a smile came onto her face.

"Jealous?" she inquired, the one word covered with fake sweetness.

"Jealous? Of him? Why the hell would I be jealous? I'm not," he told her rather loudly, his temper rising.

Kagome's smile did not falter but she thought sadly_, no, of course not, it's not like we have anything between us_. It was just so confusing at times though! One minute he'll be almost kissing her and the next he was storming away and acting like he was angry at her. What had she done to make him act in such ways?

He seemed to waiting for her response, so she said quietly, "come on. Class is gonna start soon."

He tilted his head, much like a puppy dog would, and regarded her with an odd expression on his face, but she turned and walked into the classroom without another word. She felt him follow behind her, gazing at her back all the while she walked to her seat. She could feel him boring a whole into her back with him gaze and the tension in between her shoulder blades grew.

Finally she sat down then turned her head sharply to look at him as he began to sit down and snapped, "would you stop staring at me?"

"Why are you angry? Shouldn't I be the angry one here?" Inuyasha retorted his golden orbs still focused on her.

"And why should you be angry?" she asked crossly.

His hand shot out and slowly trailed down the side of her face, the side that the makeup so carefully hide the bruise that was given to her by the wolves. She winced and drew away from his gentle touch. The bruise was almost entirely gone a week after Yukio had hit her, but still it hurt when it was touched.

"That's why. The wolves did that to you and you're so fast to trust them," Inuyasha told her just as crossly.

"Not wolves, one wolf that has a had a grudge against me since middle school. Kouga won't hurt me. Anyway, you seemed fine with the alliance before. You just don't like Kouga," Kagome said crossing her arms.

He was about to respond when the teacher came into the room, slamming the door behind him. He glared evilly at Kagome and Inuyasha and said, "that's enough you two. Any more talking from either of you and you're both in detention. I'm sick of your constant flirting in my classroom, you can flirt just as well in detention."

Can anyone say, bad mood? Kagome blushed a deep red color at his comment and Inuyasha crossed his arms and glanced away from Kagome while students around the room snickered though one glance from Inuyasha stopped the laughter on their lips.

The teacher waited until the room was silent, then introduced Hakkaku as the new student in the classroom. Inuyasha stiffened noticeably at the wolf demon's presence, but he was seated on the opposite side from Kagome and Inuyasha, thankfully enough. Kagome could just imagine the two fighting if the two sat near each other. How bad would it be if Kouga and Inuyasha were in a class together? She did not even want to think about the blood that would be shed.

* * *

Kagome wandered the hallways as she headed toward the soda machine. She grimaced as she remembered she had Math to go to next as her last period. Just thinking about all the algebraic problems she would have to solve made her shudder. If ever in need of a headache, math class was the place to go. She'd probably wind up sleeping anyway. The teacher was always too into his lesson to actually notice half the class was asleep while the other half was passing notes freely. 

The bell rung and she hurried her steps to get her soda quickly and go to math. She'd be at least five minutes late as it was. Sango was in that class with her and she discovered today that Ginta was too, but she really did not feel like going. A thought struck her. Then why should she? Why not skip? It was a simple enough question. Would she dare? The answer: hell, yeah.

Smiling, she slowed her pace, taking her time and when she finally got to the machine, she took her time deciding what she wanted. She pressed the button for cherry cola and when she went to retrieve it, two soda cans had come out. Either that or someone had left one behind. Shrugging she took both, but instead of heading to the cafeteria where most kids went during their off periods, she proceeded outside.

Kagome headed to the tree she had sat under with Inuyasha so long ago it seemed. Had it really been over a month ago? Her heart sped up as she walked to it, half-hoping he would, half-fearing he would be at the same time.

She stood under the larger tree's shade, looking around her. In September when she had sat under it, it had been to get away from the hot sun, now, in November, she stood under it to get a better look at the figure in the tree.

Inuyasha sat in the tree on one of the branches, just high enough that she had to tilt her head slightly upward to see him. One leg dangled off the side of the branch and his face was turned away from her, looking off into the distance, lost in thought.

"Catch," she called as she tossed one of the cans of soda to him.

He caught it without looking at her, the catching of it mostly a reflex, but once he looked at what his hands had caught, he glanced at her.

"What's this?" He asked, one eyebrow raised as he gazed down upon her.

She half-smiled and answered in a mocking, cheery voice. "It's called soda. You see this can if full of liquidity-goodness and once you open it, you put it to your lips and you drink it. It's very scientific." From the cold glare he gave her, she sighed as she sat down on the ground, saying, "it's a peace offering." She hoped he would forget the argument they were having that morning.

He jumped down to sit on the grass beside her while saying, "either that or you got two by mistake."

He leaned back against the tree's trunk and Kagome did the same, putting them very close. She glared at him evilly and said, "you're either a really good guesser or you can read minds. I can't figure out which."

"Or I used my high-tech eyeballs to watch you buy it," he told her, pointing to the window in the side of the school building that showed inside the hallway that drinks and snacks were sold in. He opened the can with a pop sound and took a sip while watching her, waiting for her response.

"And why, pray tell, were you watching me?" she asked while opening her own soda.

To her own personal delight, a light pink color came into his cheeks and she fought with herself not to laugh because if she did, she knew he would get pissed off and leave while Kagome wanted him very much to stay.

"Aren't you suppose to be in your eighth period class?" Inuyasha inquired for a quick change of subject.

"Hmm," Kagome answered lazily, which was her version of yes. "Math makes my brain hurt."

"So Kagome, little miss goody-two shoes, has cut class?" he said in mock surprise, "the world must be coming to an end as we know it."

Kagome closed her eyes, her lips curving upward, as she leaned back against the tree, slumping down slightly. "I can practically see the sky crumbling and falling to the ground." Though her statement only got her thinking of the little guy from the story that went around saying, "the sky is falling! The sky is falling!" making her laugh out loud.

The two sat in a relaxed silence, Kagome half-drifting to sleep, which was really what she would have done if she were in class anyway. She took a few sips of soda here and there as her mind began to wonder aimlessly.

Her thoughts came to what it was like before she knew Inuyasha. Her life was not as interesting she could say that, but it was not really his fault for that either. She was lucky he was around to save her and help her now and she was in actuality very happy that he was nearby, but he confused her so much sometimes. The emotions that she felt for him were jumbled inside her head and it puzzled her to no end. The more time she spent with him the more confused she got. Why, oh why, could life not be simple anymore?

Kagome's thoughts then drifted to Sango and Miroku and what it was like before them. Boring, mostly, and lonely. Very lonely. Kids had not liked her and the only friend she had was Hojo. She frowned when she thought of it more.

"Why are you frowning?" Inuyasha asked her, looking over at her.

"I'm just thinking. I get why other kids didn't come near me when I was younger because of my powers, I really do and I don't blame them but… I wonder why Hojo was never awkward around me like the rest and became my friend," she confessed as she took a sip of the soda she had in her hand.

Inuyasha looked embarrassed and answered, "well, actually. Remember when we talked about some people having ancestors from a long, long time ago that were demons? Well, Hojo is one of those people."

Kagome spit the soda she had been drinking out all over the place and stared laughing hysterically. A moment ago she had been serene and peaceful. Now she was full of laughter, her energy surfacing again.

"_Hojo_? Part demon? But he's so sweet and harmless! I think he'd cry if he squished a fly by mistake and he trips over his own feet all the time!" she cried out while continuing to laugh.

Inuyasha scowled at her. "Stop laughing! He's a disgrace to demons everywhere, alright? And it's only a small portion anyway, hardly noticeable. Some full-blooded demons might not even notice it."

She wiped the tears from her eyes as she tried to contain her laughter. "Thanks," she told him.

"For what?" he asked suspiciously.

"I needed a good laugh," she told him.

"Yes, I am your humble servant of entertainment," Inuyasha said dryly.

"And don't you forget it," she added, only making him frown more. A giggle escaped her again and he gave her a cold glare. "Sorry, I was think about the whole Hojo-being-a-demon thing again."

He sighed defeated. "I'm going to regret telling you that, aren't I?"

"Yeah," she said as another giggle escaped.

Inuyasha stretched out of the grass, lying down on his back, his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes but his face contorted with anger after a few minutes. Kagome peered down at him, kneeling at his side, wondering what he was thinking. He opened his golden eyes as though he sensed her gaze and before he could say anything, she asked softly, "what are you thinking about?"

"You don't want to know," he told her, though he could not take his eyes off her face.

"Let me guess, Kouga?" she questioned.

He snarled and responded, "not everything has to be about the wolf demon."

"But it was, wasn't it?" He looked away and she became frustrated again. "What is it?"

"How could you trust him so easily? He could be lying, for all we know and you go out and believe every word he says and all his sweet talk," he replied angrily.

"Ah, yes, I'm falling for the older men now," she said sarcastically. Kouga was only two years older and she was not falling for him. No way, not after knowing him for little over a week. She was not that fickle.

"See! What the hell is that about?" he snapped, obviously missing in the sarcasm in her voice.

"Must I explain sarcasm to you now too?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

His cheeks became red again, but he continued, as he sat up, "no, you don't. But how can you trust them so easily after what they did to you? And not just now, I mean in the past too when all those demons attacked you and Sango when you were younger. They almost killed you, Kagome, and you go and trust them like it was nothing."

Her voice softened as she spoke, no longer yelling at him. "That was a long time ago and it was Yukio's fault, not Kouga's. I saw how the two fought and neither one likes the other, but Kouga has him under his control. So I can trust Kouga, I know I can. He's all I got, because face it, you, me, Sango, and Miroku can't take on Naraku alone," Kagome told him. "So can you forget about your dislike for Kouga for just the time being so we can fight whatever comes at us?"

Inuyasha grumbled for a bit then replied, "I guess."

Kagome smiled slightly and gently touched the bruise on her cheek. Inuyasha watched her as she did this and asked, "how's your bruise?"

"Healing," she responded, removing her hand. She sighed and confessed, "I think my mom believes I've gone out and joined a gang because of all the bruises I keep coming home with."

She was only half-joking. She had no idea what her mom thought of all that had been going on in Kagome's life and Kagome was afraid to ask. Her mom still knew nothing of demons and her powers, but she did see how banged up Kagome was when she came home and she had seen the worry in her mother's eyes. Kagome wished she could tell her, but she did not want to spoil the ignorance her mother had on the subject. It was said ignorance is bliss and on this matter, it was very true.

"I'm pretty sure the teachers think that too, or they just think I'm getting abused by my family… or a boyfriend, or something."

She wondered if anyone thought that Inuyasha was abusing her. She blushed at the thought telling herself quickly, not because they thought him her boyfriend, no, just because they had seen her with him from time to time.

Inuyasha, unsure how to respond to such a comment, kept his silence but Kagome had not been looking for a response, she had just felt like telling someone her troubles to and did not necessarily need an answer from him. Just that he had listened had been enough for her.

The bell rang, signaling the end of their school day. Kagome stood up flashing Inuyasha a quick smile, telling him, "I better get going before Sango finds me and yells at me for skipping math. I wanted to get some sleep before I baby-sit tonight anyway." She sighed. "Children are so exhausting."

"Spending Friday night baby-sitting a kid?" Inuyasha asked, eyebrow raised. "You really know how to live it up." She stuck her tongue out and began walking away when he added, "I'll walk you home."

That made Kagome turn around, her hands on her hips. "I'm a big girl. I can walk myself home." Though she began walking with him beside her, not arguing further.

"Yes, and that's how you got hit and captured by the wolf demons last time."

"And then I got us a few allied friends."

"Just let me walk you," he growled, "you don't have to be so difficult."

"Well, when you ask so nicely, who am I resist?" she asked wryly, then added, "and yes, I do."

They talked for a while longer about odds and ends, just talking for the sake of talking and to keep the silence away. They finally reached her house and they parted there with a quick goodbye, Inuyasha continuing to walk down the street to who knows where and Kagome walking up to her room, falling asleep as soon as her face hit the pillow.

* * *

"Rin," Kagome said warningly as Rin held the water bottle over her friend's head while deciding whether or not she should pour it over his head or not. "Don't." 

"Don't what?" the seven-year-old girl said innocently as the water bottle tilted slightly in her hands, making a tiny drop fall onto her target's head.

Her friend squeaked and jumped out of his chair, beginning to run around the room with Rin in hot pursuit. Kagome shook her head laughing slightly. She would not be able to get them to stop, so she did not even try. She only got up and followed them as their running around went into a different room.

Usually she only babysat Rin, but her mother had explained that she was having a friend sleeping over that night and that she hoped Kagome did not mind. Kagome had told her she had not minded, thinking, how hard could it be taking care of two kids? How wrong she had been. All Rin had done the whole time was tease the boy, Shippo, and vice versa and Kagome could do nothing to stop them, because every time she did, they just did something else to tease one another.

"Kagome!" Shippo yelled, hugging Kagome's legs, hiding behind her, "make her stop!"

Kagome, becoming Shippo's human shield, grabbed the bottle from Rin's hands as she tried to run around her to get to Shippo. Rin squeaked in protest and kept jumping up and down, reaching for the bottle that Kagome held in the air.

"Not fair! You're too tall!" Rin told her, pouting slightly, then she came up with a better idea and just began chasing Shippo anyway without the water bottle.

They ran around the room, jumped over couches, going under and over tables, and running around Kagome and other pieces furniture as Rin ran after her prey. They disappeared into another room for a few moments but reappeared soon after.

Kagome frowned as her eyes crossed for a second and for that second Shippo had a tail and some kind of animal feet instead of human. She frowned further. She had had that weird tingling feeling in her stomach since she had got to Rin's house but she had ignored it. The last time she had felt it had been when she had met with Kouga and his two wolves that morning. A thought struck her, but, no, he couldn't be could he…? But there did not seem to be another explanation, unless her mind was playing tricks on her.

"You're a demon?" she said surprised, even before she knew she had said it.

Both children froze in their fight and turned to Kagome. Then Shippo turned to Rin, his face angry.

"You told!" Shippo accused.

"Did not! I didn't tell Kagome anything! Right, Kagome?" Rin questioned her.

Kagome shook her head. "She'd didn't tell me anything. I figured it out on my own," she explained to Shippo.

Shippo looked from one girl to the other suspiciously then with a sigh, he said, "oh, well. Guess the secret's out now."

He flopped down on the couch and a cloud of smoke appeared around him. There was a "pop" sound and once the smoke cleared, instead of a little boy, there was a little demon sitting in front of her. He had the same blue eyes and orange hair as before, only now he had a slightly less orange tail too and his feet had changed to the little feet of an animal. He was shorter also, but not by much.

Rin sat down next to the demon like it was the most casual thing in the world to do. She then turned her gaze from Shippo to Kagome. "Wait, how do you know about the demons?"

Kagome bit her lip nervously. "I…uh… it's a long story," she settled for that, but added, "I also have a friend that's a demon, well part-demon and know a few other demons too." Then she gave Rin the same accusing gaze she had given her. "How'd you find out about him being a demon?"

"Oh, he told me last year. I thought it was pretty cool," Rin told her.

"I wasn't suppose to tell anyone. My parents will be really angry if they find out, but I trust Rin. She's my best friend," Shippo told her, then worriedly, "your not going to tell my parents, are you? Or Rin's?"

"What? Oh no, I wouldn't do that. So I suppose your parents are demons too?" Shippo nodded. Kagome asked Rin, "and you don't mind that he's a demon? You weren't afraid when he told you?"

Rin looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "No, why would I? He's my friend and that's all there is to it. It doesn't matter whether he's demon or not, boy or girl. He'll still be my best friend."

Kagome bit her lip, thinking of what she said. Such wisdom from a child, but how long would this type of thinking last? At a young age, her mind was untainted with bias thoughts, but what might happen when she is older? Would she grow afraid of Shippo? Although Shippo looked too harmless to ever be afraid of, but who knew what the future might bring. She could get angry with him for ever telling her about the demons that lived side by side with humans because she then knew of all the horrible things demons could do. Still, Rin seemed to trust and love her friend so much; it was hard to think of a time when they might dislike each other.

Realized they were watching her as she thought and growing quite bored, she asked Shippo, "so what type of demon are you? And how'd you disguise yourself like that?"

Shippo smiled happily. "I'm a fox demon! I can use my fox magic to disguise myself. See, watch." He stopped moving for a moment then the smoke came around him and the popping sound was heard once again. When the smoke cleared there were two Rins sitting on the couch.

Kagome blinked slowly, confused for a moment, as one of the Rins laughed and the other mimicked the first. Then the second Rins' hair slowly began to turn orange and Shippo popped back into view, still laughing while Kagome joined in too.

A sudden banging was heard from above and all three heads turned upward toward the skylight in the ceiling, the laughter stopping. A crashing sound was heard and someone came through the ceiling, landing neatly on the floor. The kids screamed and hid behind Kagome, while Kagome stared blankly at the person. What the hell was he doing here?

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, "what are you doing here!" Her gaze went up to the ceiling. "How'd you get in? Did you break that window because if you did I am so not paying for it."

She would have rambled on but Inuyasha, ignoring her first question, said, "relax, alright? I came in through that window in the roof. It opened so I went through."

She looked up worriedly. "Is it _suppose_ to open?" If he broke something it would be her neck on the line…. But what she was more curious about was… "why are you here?"

"I smelt a demon nearby and smelt your scent too. I thought something might be attacking you." He gazed at the kitsune. "That little runt is the demon?"

Rin and Shippo came out from behind her and Rin asked, "You know him?" While Shippo yelled, "I'm not a runt!" Pause. "Or little!"

Inuyasha picked him up by the tail and brought him up to eye level. "Yeah, you are."

The two began to throw insults back and forth at one another. Inuyasha got really ticked off and his ears appeared halfway through their verbal fight, as Rin and Kagome could only watch, unable to stop the two demons.

Rin tugged on Kagome's pants, getting her attention. "Is this the demon you were telling us about? Is he your bodyguard? Is that why he was here to protect you from demons?"

Kagome smiled at Rin and the two others stopped their fight, each crossing their arm over their chests, looking opposite ways. Everyone listened to Kagome's response.

"This is Inuyasha, the part-demon friend I was telling you about before. No, he's not my bodyguard, he's… well, it's complicated, but let's say not all demons like me that much."

Which, in fact, was untrue since all the demons that wanted to get their hands on her wanted to use her, not harm her, but she did not want to have to explain this to the two children so she kept her mouth shut.

"I think a poodle on a leash would be more protection then the hanyou over here," Shippo told Kagome.

"Watch it, fox-boy," Inuyasha growled.

"I'm bored, Kagome. Let's play a game," Rin told her, tugging anxiously on her shirt. Obviously, Rin had a very short attention span and had only been entertained by the newcomer for ten minutes, tops.

Kagome bit her bottom lip thinking. What games did she know? Suddenly a devious smile came on her face, one Inuyasha did not like that made him narrow his eyes as he gazed at her. Her eyes sparkled with amusement and she began explaining the game to them.

"Okay, this game is called 'Monster'. We couldn't play it before because we didn't have enough people to make it fun, but we can play it now that Inuyasha's here." Inuyasha looked like he was about to leave, but Kagome held his arm in a tight grip. "My dad and my brother and me use to play this all the time when I was younger. Alright, one person is the monster and they have to count to ten while the others hide, then the monster has to go and try to find the others who are playing. If you get tagged, you're in jail. Now if the monster is nearby, you can run out of your hiding spot to avoid him and you don't have to hide again, but if you get tagged you have to go in jail. Anyone that's not in jail, besides the monster of course, can get the people out of jail out to safety by tagging them." Kagome took some pillows and put them in random spots in the rooms downstairs where they would be playing. "The pillows are base, so you can't get tagged while on them. If everyone is tagged, the monster wins and whoever was put into jail first once everyone is caught is the new monster. Understand?"

The two kids nodded their agreement after Kagome explained a few parts over again and Inuyasha just said "feh" which she took as a yes.

"Who gets to be monster first?" Shippo asked, excited to play.

Kagome looked at him with a wide smile. "When I use to play, my dad was always the monster first. It was decided that the oldest is always the monster first."

All three glared at Inuyasha. "What?" he said, annoyed.

Inuyasha, who had to take freshman year in high school twice, was more than a year older than Kagome, which meant…

"Oh, no," Inuyasha said, "no way."

* * *

Kagome ran swiftly and darted under the table, her heart beating rapidly as the two children called out for her to help them from jail. She must have gotten them out of jail five times already, but Inuyasha was too fast and caught them again after a few minutes. She had only got caught once, but Shippo and quickly tagged her out while using his fox magic to distract Inuyasha for a few moments, which Inuyasha said was cheating. Shippo only stuck out his tongue at Inuyasha and darted to the nearest pillow so Inuyasha could not tag him legally, though he seemed intent on pounding him for a while. 

Inuyasha had yet to tag all three of them at the same time so he continued to be the "monster", much to his annoyance. When Kagome had use to play with her dad, he had always moved agonizingly slow, much like a zombie would do, or Frankenstein, because an adult can easily catch a seven year old and a two year old, the age of her and her brother, but Inuyasha did not care about this and moved as fast as he wanted. The only reason she had not been caught yet was she spent most of her time running from one base to the other.

Quickly checking to see that Inuyasha was not around, she ran to the two armchairs she had pushed together to make a jail and quickly went to touch one, but then she heard Inuyasha coming and had to leave before getting them out. He moved too fast for her to get to the jail before he caught her, so she decided against letting them out just yet.

She ran out of the room and around the other way so she could get them out from the opposite direction. Then suddenly Inuyasha popped out of nowhere and pushed her against the wall, none to gently.

"Boo," he told her in a growled voice.

Her pulse sped up even more and her heart jumped into her throat as she felt pure fear well up inside of her for a moment. She had not seen him coming and he had scared the living daylights out of her. Kagome was about to tell him so when she caught the look in his golden eyes.

The look was a pure predatorily one, hardly human at all. She knew he could smell her fear for that moment it had built up inside her when he had startled her and now it rose slightly again. His eyes were unfocused, the golden eyes shining brighter than normal with an intense look in them that made her pulse speed up even more, if that was even possible.

Inuyasha growled softly and buried his face into the side of her neck, breathing in deeply taking in the scent of strawberries and powers which was mixed with slight scent of fear. His breath was warm against her skin, tickling all her senses and she shivered against him. He drew his face back, his eyes focused again but a deep meaning was still hidden in them.

The distance cries of her name from the children to help them get out of the "jail" brought Inuyasha and Kagome back to themselves. Another soft growl, this time of annoyance, came to Inuyasha and he picked up Kagome bridal style, which surprised her completely, making a small cry of protest come from her. He ignored this and continued to carry her to the other room where the kids were and brought her to the jail.

The girl and fox demon scrambled away as Inuyasha dropped Kagome into the two armchairs. She might have laughed as she bounced when she landed but a glance at Inuyasha told her he did not want her laughing as the same heat was still in his eyes, his demon nature not yet receding all the way yet.

She glanced away, the look in his eyes too much for her, and Inuyasha walked out of the room, not coming back until sometime later.

* * *

The two kids slept contently on either side of Kagome, wiped out after all the running they did. Inuyasha, who was back to normal, sat to the side of her as they watched some television, though Rin was squished in between them. 

Kagome put a finger to her lip to tell Inuyasha to keep quiet and picked up Shippo while Inuyasha carried Rin, since he would probably be less violent toward the girl if she woke up. Shippo had no such guarantee if Inuyasha had been holding him. They placed both of them on one of the twin beds in Rin's room, while Kagome covered Shippo with a blanket, hoping that he remember to change back to his boy form disguise before the next morning came since Rin's parents did not know anything of demons.

She turned off the light and closed the door almost entirely silently, murmuring a goodnight as they left. When they went back into the television, Inuyasha turned to her, his face serious. She was about to ask what was the matter, when she heard the back door open as Rin's parents came home.

Quick as a flash, Inuyasha jumped up, going through the skylight in the roof he arrived from, closing it behind him. Kagome stood for a moment a little light-headed after his abrupt leaving but, of course, she did not want Rin's parents to know he was there. That would only lead to awkward questions and the fact that Inuyasha's ears were still atop of his head did not help the case.

Rin's parents paid her and drove her home, while Kagome remained silent, replaying the day's event over in her head. She smiled, her own way of a goodbye, and got out of the car when they arrived, walking slowly up the driveway and then up the stairs to her bedroom.

* * *

Sango dangled a string in front of the kitten, yanking it away when the kitten pounced as the kitten grew quite annoyed. Finally, Sango swung the string over the cat youkai's head and let her catch it so that she could munch on it thoroughly. 

They both sat on Kagome's bed, watching the kitten as they talked. It was late at night, maybe a little after eleven, Saturday night. As Sango had told her, her and Miroku did not go out every Saturday night to hunt demons, and this Saturday night Miroku was going on a date with his latest victim, much to Sango's annoyance, so Sango was over Kagome's, sleeping over, instead.

It bothered her, Miroku going out with other girls, Kagome could tell, though Sango would never admit it. It was not like he hadn't gone out with any other girls before, no, he had gone out with more people than some others would in a lifetime, but it annoyed her all the same. Of course, Sango and Miroku did not have a relationship, even if sometimes they acted as if they did, unknowably to them.

"So, what are you naming her?" Sango asked Kagome as she reclaimed the string from the cat again.

"Hm, I haven't really decided yet, but I think you should name her. You are going to be taking care of her now," Kagome told her.

Sango pulled the kitten into her lap and asked, "are you sure you don't mind? You could keep her if you'd like. She might grow up to be a pretty strong youkai."

Kagome laughed. "I'd love to keep her, but my mom would never let me. We already have Buyo, who's just fat and lazy. My mom wouldn't want another cat. Plus there's the whole, cat-being-demonic thing. I don't think I'd be able to explain the two tails, red eyes thing to my mom." She smiled as she watched the youkai fall asleep in Sango's lap. "I'm sure she'll be happy with you anyway."

There was a silence for a while as Sango thought. Finally she spoke, saying, "I think I'll call her Kirara."

Kagome shrugged. "Works for me."

After another long silence, Kagome asked slyly with a sidelong glance at Sango, "so, are you bummed Miroku's not here?"

Sango gave her an irritated glare and questioned in the same, mocking tone of voice, "so, are you bummed Inuyasha's not here?"

Her cheeks flushed and she said, "why would I care if he were here or not?" Though her eyes darted to the window he always came and left through.

Sango caught the look and smirked. "Missing the hanyou already? It's been, what? A day?"

"I-I am not!" Kagome exclaimed, though she stuttered slightly.

"Uh-huh," Sango said in a disbelieving way. She shook her head sadly and said, "Kagome, if your face turns any redder, cherries might get jealous."

Kagome pressed a cold hand to her cheek in an attempt to cool herself down, unsuccessfully.

"Didn't take long, did it?" Sango commented.

"What didn't?" Kagome asked curiously.

"To fall in love."

"I'm not in love!" Kagome cried out, in utter denial. Then she said, hesitantly, "but… I do have… feelings toward him."

"But with a hanyou…" Sango murmured, more to herself than to Kagome.

Kagome gave her a glare. "What's wrong with hanyous?"

"Nothing!" Sango said quickly, "it's just that you have so many demons after you already and you don't know what to expect from Inuyasha. He _is_ half demon."

"And he _is_ half human too. I can trust him to help me, because he's done it before. He won't turn on me," Kagome mentioned as she looked out the window into the darkness. This conversation was oddly familiar, and she then remember explaining similar things to Inuyasha about Kouga. The only difference was Kagome did not have feelings for Kouga, not the way she had feelings for Inuyasha.

"You don't know that for sure," Sango remarked, "if his demon side ever takes over…."

"He can handle his demon side," Kagome told her, "just like he did last night."

His demon side had showed itself after chasing down Kagome in the game and then her instant fear and being scared. She wasn't frightened of Inuyasha, it was just one of those moments, like when someone walks up behind you and startles you because you weren't paying attention. She had been unsure at first, but he was able to keep his demon side in check and Kagome knew she could trust him. She just knew it.

Realizing she had slipped, she tried to turn the conversation away from last night, but Sango asked sharply why she had seen him last night. Kagome rubbed her aching temples and then began explaining how Inuyasha had showed up while she had been out babysitting last night. She even mentioned Shippo, though warily, since she did not want Sango to be chasing after the small boy. Sango, however, mentioned the fact that Shippo and his parents were harmless, having heard of them before. Kagome went on with her tale, winding up telling Sango everything that had happened between Inuyasha and herself, even from a while ago, and her confusion in regard to him.

"I don't know what to tell you," Sango said once Kagome was finished. She had made a comment here and there, though had mainly let Kagome tell her the story without much interruption. "Except, in my opinion, you got it bad. Then again, it seems like he does too."

"Or maybe I'm just looking into things that aren't there and just telling you the wrong information," Kagome said with an audible sigh as she fell onto her back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling above.

Sango lay down beside her, also staring up at the ceiling. "Everything in life is complicated. Did you expect love to be so easy?"

Kagome opened her mouth to protest once again, saying she was not in love. Sango, anticipating what she had to say, kicked her lightly just as the words began forming in her mouth.

Kagome made a squeak of protest, and kicked her back, so starting their very girlish fight of kicking each other back and forth while Kirara looked on annoyed, them having interrupted the youkai's sleep with their excessive kicking.

A knock came from Kagome's window and her heartbeat sped up as both Kagome and Sango sat up in the bed abruptly. Who could be knocking on her window? Could it be…?

The window slid open and Miroku stepped inside and Kagome's heart fell. No, of course it had not been him. He probably would not have knocked anyway. Not that she was not glad to see Miroku; she just would have rather seen another face come through that window.

Miroku closed the window behind him and came to the bed, sitting on the edge of it as he regarded the too. When they were younger, Miroku had often climbed up the tree and into her window when the three of them ha sleepovers without her mother's knowledge. She had always gotten use to Miroku coming and going through the window, he just had not done it lately, so it had caught her off guard since another male had been using the window as a entrance more frequently.

"Hello, my two lovely ladies," Miroku said to them in greeting.

"What are you doing here, Miroku? What happened to your date?" Sango asked, with a trace of bitterness that Kagome noticed, though the question was valid and he was still wearing the fancy clothes he had worn on the date.

"Koharu? Ah, yes, while she a fascinating young girl, but she unfortunately had a curfew. So that leaves me her with you two ladies instead," Miroku told them, flashing them a smile.

"Nothing better than being second best," Kagome muttered wryly.

Sango rolled her eyes at Miroku's statement. "That's what you get for going out with a freshman. There too young to stay up past bedtime," Sango mocked.

"It is odd, a junior going out with a freshman," Kagome agreed.

"Yes, but she had such innocent eyes that sparkled with glee… lovely hair that shines in the moonlight…" Miroku began.

He went into this whole description, mainly just to annoy both of them greatly. And it was working. Kagome and Sango shared a glance, and both grabbed a pillow from the bed and chucked them at him and continued to do so until they ran out of soft things to throw at him. Of course, then Sango only tried to smother him with one of the pillows.

Finally, he seemed to realize it would be better if he stopped talking and in doing that he might live through the night without Sango suffocating him. Kagome's mirthful laughter was heard throughout the room, while Sango continued grumbling about annoying monks and Miroku only had a goofy looking smile on his face.

Kagome searched through her drawers and threw Miroku some clothes that she had at her house for him, for cases just as these. He nodded his thanks and left from the room to change, coming back only minutes later.

They all sat on the bed, continuing to talk until well after midnight, discussing random things that came to mind. It started off with a talk about the wolves and traveled from there, going to all sorts of weird conversation, ending in a talk about peanut butter. It sounded illogical, but talk of wolves had led to Kouga, which went from there to school. They then talked of their teachers and Kagome told them how much she disliked her science teacher. Then they were talking about people they disliked which led them to Miroku mentioning he disliked a guy who happened to have a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of his mouth. See? Peanut butter. And the conversation only got stranger from there.

"It's amusing to see a person who has that fear eat something with peanut butter, because then they're scraping at the roof of their mouth frantically trying to get it out of their mouth," Miroku commented.

"Yes, it's just as amusing as… putting a claustrophobic in a box, let's say," Sango said sarcastically, showing her disapprove at Miroku's comment.

"Okay, well maybe it isn't amusing then," Miroku said.

Sango's stomach grumbled suddenly and she said as she stood up, "I think I'll go raid your kitchen for something to eat. This talk of peanut butter got me hungry, I think."

Miroku stood up also saying he would go with her. He went to the door before she could get there and opened it for her, motioning for her to go through.

"Ladies first," he said, being the gentleman that he was. Yeah, right.

Sango shook her head. "No way, I don't trust you one bit if your walking behind me. Actually, I don't trust you one bit either way, but if you go first it's at least a little safer."

Miroku sighed and shook his head sadly. "I sometimes regret you knowing me so well. My tricks don't work on you anymore…."

Sango snorted, gesturing for him to go first and reluctantly he did with a feigned sad face on.

Kagome watched them leave, shaking her head as she heard them bicker as their voice got softer and softer and they drew farther away, going down the stairs.

* * *

Inuyasha watched Kagome's window as he sat in a tree in her yard. Her and that demon slayer friend of hers had been sitting and talking for a long time. He frowned when he saw the monk climb up the tree and into the room with the two girls and sit casually with them. If he could, he would have done the same, but thing only seemed to get awkward when he was around and when Kagome's friends were there too. 

The sound of Kagome's joyful laughter found his ears, though very faintly. She must have been laughing loudly for it to have reached all the way to him outside, although his hearing was a lot better than any human's. He could not hear anything they were saying though, so he only watched.

He watched as Kagome listened intently to whoever was speaking and would smile and laugh every once and a while. He observed as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, an instinctive movement and how she sat with her legs under her. She was in perfect ease with her two best friends, worries forgotten for just the few hours they spent together. In those moment of perfect ease, she seemed to have a pure, innocent glow about her and she was beautiful. No other words could describe how unnaturally her radiance glowed. Just… beautiful.

The slayer and monk left through the door, proceeding downstairs, as Kagome laid out a sleeping bag and pillow on the floor, meaning the monk was probably staying for the night too, only he was not allowed on the bed, which Inuyasha was quite glad about. She turned out the lights next, making the only light in the room the pale moonlight that shone through the window, teasingly throwing fractured light all throughout the room.

As he watched her more, he felt drawn to her. In one fluid movement, he had jumped from his tree branch onto the one by her bedroom window. In another moment, he had the window open and he was in the room.

Kagome spun around quickly, startled when she heard the window slide open. Her eyes widened for a moment, then she was back to normal, though her heart was beating abnormally fast.

Was she afraid of him now since after he had turned predatorily on her? He had not meant to, but after he had smelt the fear across her skin when he had scared her, his other side had just taken over. But no, the look in her eyes had been a startled one, not one of fear.

"Inuyasha?" she asked questionably in a whisper. There was something about a dark room that always made a person want to whisper instead of talking in a normal voice.

There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much he really should have said and explained. He cared about her greatly, more than he really should have ever cared for a human. The fact that he wanted to be close to her, that he could see himself being with her for a long time to come, should have scared him away and it did a little, but he'd rather take the chance and try to be with her. Every fiber of his being told him that he should not get involved with a human since it could be dangerous for both him and for her, especially since she had such a price on her head. One of them was bound to get hurt, maybe even die, eventually in the battle that might come between them and Naraku, but he did not care about that. He could not care about anything else but being with her and he didn't want another demon, like Kouga, taking her away from him.

Kagome was so pure and innocent and every time she was around, Inuyasha felt at ease, like he had never felt before. His horrible past was gone when she looked at him with those brown eyes and he did not need to be human or the hero in her eyes. He just needed to be himself when he was with her, because that was all she wanted, it seemed.

He had never had that feeling before. He had always thought he would have to prove himself in some way, but Kagome just wanted him as he was. And for that reason, when he looked at her, he wanted to be able to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, like he had before when she had cried while he held her. Inuyasha wanted to be able to embrace her and tell her things that would lift her spirits, even if they were only comfort words. He wanted so many things, but mainly, he just wanted her.

Somehow, he could not form his thoughts into words, could not tell her what needed to be said. Words could not form in his mouth because words did not seem appropriate at the moment.

Inuyasha realized that he had been quiet for a long while and now Kagome eyed him curiously. She took a few steps forward, though she did not talk either. Not a word had been uttered since she had called out his name.

Inuyasha took another step toward Kagome, bringing them very close together, as he reached out a hand and stroked her cheek, very gently until finally he cupped her cheek in his hand. He tilted her face upward slightly, making her brown eyes meet his golden ones and looking into those golden orbs made her just the smallest bit light-headed.

His name came to her lips, but before she could make a sound, his lips descended onto hers. At first it was a slow, gentle nearly chaste kiss and Kagome was too astonished to respond. Then she began to react and he took it as an invitation. The kiss became more heated, more intense, turning into that of a passionate kiss.

His hands slid down her to her waist, then played up and down her sides again, making her shudder against him. One of her hands was at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer until their bodies were pressed together, while her other hand was partly tangled in the strands of his long, silver hair.

His body enveloped hers, sending searing heat throughout her body as she melted into his embrace. A warm feeling spread throughout her, giving her a numb feeling for a second, before the heat came back. His tongue parted her lips, exploring her mouth as she let out a moan of pleasure, as she brought his mouth closer when he pulled back slightly, hungrily wanting more.

They were cut short, however, as the sound of Sango and Miroku trudging up the stairs became apparent to both of them. Who knows how far they would have gone if Inuyasha had not jumped away from her then, leaving as fast as he had come.

When he jumped away, Kagome staggered back a few, her eyes unfocused with passion and her head extremely in a dazed state. She brought one hand up to her kiss-swollen lips, placing two fingertips gently on top of her bottom lip.

That was how Sango and Miroku found her when they came into the room. Kagome was standing in the dark room, pooled in the moonlight with her fingers to her lip, with a dazed, thoughtful expression on her face.

Her first kiss.

* * *

Kagome stood nervously in front of the mirror, checking her appearance for the umpteenth time that morning. Her hands kept unclasping and clasping in front of her, then she clasped her hands behind her back, while shifting her weight from one foot to the other, then back again. 

She reached for her brush again, wanting her appearance to look perfect, but Sango swatted her hand away.

"Stop fidgeting!" Sango said, scowling at her from behind, though Kagome could see her through the mirror.

Sango brushed a piece of fuzz off of the back of Kagome's shirt with a sweep of her hand while Kagome responded, "I can't help it! I'm nervous!"

"There's nothing to be nervous about. They won't bite your head off, or anything," Sango told her.

"Yeah, they only did that once and it was under extreme circumstances," Miroku teased from where he was laying down on her bed.

Sango turned around with a frown while a look of horror came on Kagome's face.

"I was joking," Miroku told Kagome, when he saw her expression via the mirror.

The horror lessened, though the tense look she had did not fade. Miroku sighed and rose off the bed, going behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. He began massaging them, trying to work the tense out of her while Sango continued to scowl, not liking his intention. Sure, they always started out innocent enough, but then he always did something perverted and very worthy of a slap.

The thought that if Inuyasha was there he would have broken Miroku in half just for touching her in such a way brought a smile to Kagome's face and the tension eased, while a light blush came on her features after thinking of Inuyasha.

She was still exceptionally nervous though. She was going to meet the mysterious "they" finally. Sango had mentioned that morning that they had wanted to meet her today, while Kagome had yelled at her and threw a pillow, asking why she hadn't told her sooner. Sango had replied she had not wanted her to get all stressful and panicky like she was now. That shut Kagome up very quickly.

"Time to go," Sango told her and Kagome nodded slightly following her out to the car with Miroku not far behind. Miroku was smart enough now to know that it was not a very good idea to try anything on Kagome when she was in a panicky state of mind.

They walked outside and into the bright morning sun. It shouldn't be so sunny and bright when I'm in such a nerve-racking mood, Kagome thought grumpily.

So this was it. She was finally going to meet whoever it was that gave Sango and Miroku orders.

Kagome climbed into the back seat of the car as she felt the butterflies intensify in her stomach with one last finally sigh.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to my reviews! There's not many of you, but the reviews I do get are enough to keep me more than happy. All my reviewers are loyal and review for multiple chapters. As long as I know someone reading, I'll keep on writing chapters and getting them out as fast as I can. Also,Kirara just has a small form in this fic and doesn't become giant, fighting Kirara. 


	8. Chapter 8: Unknown Powers

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

* * *

**__**

In a World of Demons

Chapter 8: Unknown Powers

* * *

The butterflies in her stomach only seemed to intensify as they got closer and closer to their destination. Actually, Kagome was not even sure where they were going, having no idea where _they_ lived, but the longer she stayed in the car, the more nervous and anxious she got. 

She was going to finally meet the mysterious "they" that had seen it in their and her best interest to have two people look after her and protect her up to this point, and also the people who almost took her two best friends away from her.

Kagome should have every right to feel scared of them and nervous about meeting them. First they tell her she has all these powers and that demons are after her then they try to take away the two they sent to protect her. They didn't seem to care about her, just her powers.

"Stop fidgeting, Kagome," Sango told her, glancing back at her while Miroku regarded her through the rearview window. "You're the one that wanted to meet them, so I talked to them and made an arrangement. Now you have to relax. Besides, I'm sure they'll like you."

It was just as bad as if someone were meeting their fiancée's parents for the first time. Kagome tugged at the edge of her skirt , while saying, "how do you know?"

"When we first met you… we expected a totally different person," he responded.

"Self-centered, snotty," Sango said, beginning her list, counting off the characteristics on her fingers.

"A slut," Miroku added, though he sounded partially disappointed.

"You wish," Sango told him, rolling her eyes.

This list was supposed to make her feel _better_?

"Once they meet you…. Believe me, they'll be relieved," Miroku informed her when they were done with their list a few _minutes_ later.

_I'll believe it when I see it,_ she thought as she toyed with the necklace she had on.

It was the necklace her father had given her, past down from generation to generation to the women in his family and also the necklace that Sango had retrieved after the wolves had stolen it from her so many years ago. On the gold chain of the necklace was a golden heart with engraved swirling designs all over it. It was slighter large than a quarter in length, though it was very thick, able to fit a small pebble inside. It had one break in the side of it, indicating that once a long time ago it could be open, but now it was stuck and would not. She had tried many times before to open the heart shaped necklace to see what was inside, to no prevail that only resulted in broken nails. And we all know _that's _such a tragedy.

"Try to think of something else," Miroku suggested, which had been what she was doing until he spoke.

"Well now I can't once you told me to!" Kagome said stubbornly, slumping down in her seat as much as the seat built allowed, arms crossed, acting very much like a moping five-year-old would. Hey, give her a break. She was scared out of her wits here, she deserved a little moping.

"Why not think of something else like… Inuyasha, for example," Sango teased wickedly.

Kagome scowled at her as a deep blush appeared on her features. Her fingertips brushed against her lips once more, remembering last night clearly, _very_ clearly. She stared outside as the trees passed by, but her eyes did not actually see the scenery as her mind lost itself in thoughts of the previous night.

He had never uttered a word, not a sound, just stared at her with those golden orbs. She had wanted to shutter under the intense look in his eyes, just gazing at her for the longest time. Time had slowed down as he approached her, cradled her face in his hand until he had finally let his lips descend to hers. His warmth enveloped her as his hands played up and down her sides gently, teasing all her senses. Her hands had been tangled in his hair, his silky, long silver hair. All his heat and passion had transferred to her once their lips met and she had wanted nothing more than to melt into his embrace and never let him go. Of course, that was when Miroku and Sango had come back. She would have given anything to have a few more moments with him….

But why had he kissed her? Had it been an instinct, or was that the reason he came? And what did it mean for them? Would things change? Or would he act like nothing happened?

Kagome could not help but wish Inuyasha was there now. If he had been there he would have taken her mind off her problems because when she was with him, everything else melted away. All her problems faded until they disappeared, gone with the fall breeze, and she felt at ease. Usually they teased each other when they together, but when they were in each other's company, nothing else matter. The fact that he was a hanyou and she had hordes of demons after her no longer mattered. He was just a guy and she was just a girl and that was all there was to it. He was the one thing now that could make her stop worrying, even if most of their conversations were arguments or teasing to the point of mild annoyance from the one being teased.

She just needed him to take the nervousness away. He would probably have scowled at her, calling her a baka or some other name and she smiled slightly just at the thought.

"Ah, so do you have a crush on our new hanyou friend?" Miroku asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Yeah, you could say that.

* * *

The three climbed out of the car and Kagome glanced at the normal-looking house in front of them. _Maybe a little too normal looking_, she thought suspiciously. Okay, now she was way too paranoid and even she realized it. 

There were no other houses in sight, all that could be seen was the worn road and the grass and trees stretching across the land in every direction. The driveway Miroku had parked the car in was pure grovel leading to a country-type home, complete with a porch with an old, wooden rocking chair. The air was crisp and fresh, having that clean, mountainous scent to it as they walked up the so-called driveway, mainly millions of tiny pebbles.

They walked onto the porch, the boards groaning in protest as they did, while Sango opened the screen door. She knocked on the door twice, then a pause, and then three more knocks.

Okay, this was not what Kagome had been expecting. Big, black gates with those sharp, pointy things on top that opened when you pressed a button, a few guards here and there, and a big, expensive house, _that _was what she had expected. Not a quiet retreat in the middle of nowhere, far away from the town and city she lived by.

Sango opened the door on her own, not waiting to see if anyone inside would open it for them. The chilliness of the fall air followed them inside and Kagome shivered, wishing she had brought a coat with her. Better yet, she wished she had not come at all. Half of her wanted to jump in the car and demand to be driven home, but the other half, the stubborn half, kept her feet firmly in place.

Sango continued down the hallway, obviously knowing exactly where she was going, while Kagome followed with Miroku behind her. Luckily, Miroku was on his best behavior and knew how nervous she was so did not try any of the things that she was sure were going through his perverted mind.

Sango opened a door on the right and they walked into a room filled with a few cheap, though comfortable couches. In the room there was another door on the opposite wall, but neither Miroku nor Sango made a move toward it. Miroku lounged on one of the couches, completely at ease and she had to admit, she was envious. She wished _she_ could be so carefree at the moment.

Sango turned to Kagome. "You go on from here," she told her, jerking her head toward the door, "right through there."

"Alone?" she squeaked, tugging on her necklace nervously.

Sango put a hand on either one of her shoulders and shook her lightly. "You," she declared, "have to stop worrying so much. You'll be _fine_. Now go."

Sango gave her a slight push toward the door and with one last glance at Sango and then Miroku, she moved toward the door. She tapped lightly on the door, then frowning at her lack of nerve, rapped on the door more forcefully.

"Come in, child," she heard a woman's voice say through the door.

She slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open in front of her, letting the light from the room she was in pool into the dark room. Slowly, she walked into the room, her eyes adjusting to the dark room in front of her. Miroku had gotten up and closed the door behind her, making her jump when she heard the click.

"Don't be so nervous," the woman told her, "come closer."

_Said the spider to the fly,_ Kagome thought wryly.

Slowly, Kagome took a few cautious steps forward. Dim lights came on to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her late fifties sitting Indian style to the side of the room. She had gray hair tied back with an eye patch over one eye. Her visible eye was closed, but when Kagome came closer, she opened her eye to regard her.

A second woman in her early thirties also sat in the room, leaning against the wall, but was perfectly still. Her hair was long and black, nearly reaching her waist and her body was somewhat muscular from what Kagome could see. She made no move as Kagome walked further into the room, either oblivious to the fact she was there or not caring. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was rhythmic as though she were sleeping, but somehow, Kagome knew she was not.

When Miroku and Sango had always talked about "them" she had always pictured big, muscular men in sunglasses and black suits with stern looks on their faces, looking down at her with disapproving gazes, maybe even one of them cracking their knuckles in a threatening way. Never in a million years had she thought she'd be gazing at the two serene women she was looking at now.

Wow, had she gotten the wrong image.

"So you are Kagome," the older one said, "we finally get to meet."

Kagome nodded dumbly and said, "uh-huh."

Her brain was not yet fully processing the thought that the two women were the mysterious and tough seeming "they" Miroku and Sango always mentioned, mostly by accident since they were _really_ bad secret keepers.

Kaede gestured for Kagome to sit down in front of her, so Kagome knelt down in front of the older woman, her hands clasped in her lap. Her eyes were focused intently on her lap, but realizing this was cowardly, she raised her eyes to look at the woman in front of her.

"I am Kaede," she told her, then nodded her head toward the other woman. "And that is Midoriko. We've heard a lot about you from the two out there," she said, meaning Miroku and Sango.

"Oh?" was Kagome's only response. She really was at a loss for words. What was she supposed to say to them? She had wanted to meet them out of curiosity's sake in the first place, but now she had some things she wanted to ask them, but how could she bring it up? She found it better if she just stayed quiet and let them speak instead.

"Yes. The two are very fond of you. Now, what brings you to us?" Kaede asked her.

"Well, I was curious about you and you seem to know so much about me, so…" Kagome began. Okay, so the quiet plan had not worked for too long.

"So you figured we could tell you what you wanted to know about yourself?" the other woman, Midoriko, said, speaking for the first time since Kagome arrived.

She opened her eyes, regarding Kagome intently, then got up from her sitting position. She had been sitting in the same position for a long time, but if she was at all stiff, she didn't show it. Midoriko sat next to Kaede in front of Kagome, sitting in an Indian style pose, just like Kaede.

Kagome tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear out of force of habit and said, "well, yeah. What am I exactly? Why are all these demons after me? What powers do I have? Why—"

Kaede cut her off as she laughed slightly. "One question at a time, child. We know you have strong powers, no doubt about that, since your aura gives of energy constantly. What they are, you'll have to find out later on as you learn how to use them. The demons, one in particular—Naraku, I believe Sango informed us—is after you, well, because…."

"There was a prophecy," Midoriko stated, taking over the conversation, "some centuries ago. It spoke of a human that had strange powers and had the ability to change the world, bring it back to what it was like a long, long time ago. Of course, these are not the actually words, but it's the gist of it. The prophecy is very hard to decipher." She paused in thought, then continued, "only the demons actually remember what it use to be like, and merely a few humans have heard the stories. Mainly, those humans are like us, fighting the demons that get too… rambunctious and letting the peaceful demons be."

"But if you fight demons, why do you live in the middle of nowhere?"

"We usually let the demons find us, most of the time," Midoriko said with a shrug. "Were not as young as we use to be, well at least Kaede isn't…" she smiled crookedly at the older woman, "…and we have to worry about the other demon slayers out there. We run the program, only fighting when necessary."

"So… you're like the leaders of this organization that kills demons and handles all the supernatural things?" Kagome inquired anxiously, thirsty for answers, as she shifted her position on the floor.

"Around this area we are, but there are more people in different countries that are leaders of this organization that goes against demons, just the same as the three of us," Midoriko answered.

"Wait, the three of you?" Kagome asked, bemused.

"My younger sister is usually here too—actually she looks a bit like you—but lately, since a few years past, she's been traveling around the world, using her powers to help the people who are plagued with demons that are wherever she happens to be at the moment," Kaede told her.

"So you have powers too?"

"We each have our own unique powers, some stronger than others. My sister is the strongest of us three, but she has different powers than we do. Midoriko can purify demons from the inside out, but her arrows don't have the same purifying light my sister's do. In the olden days, we would have been called priestess, but now we're just fighters, fighting for a cause."

Kagome nodded her head, showing her comprehension, then, as she twiddled with her heart-shaped necklace, asked, "can… can you teach me how to use my powers?"

The two woman exchanged a knowing glance.

"It'll be a long and difficult process," Midoriko warned.

"But you will be able to hide your aura and powers from the demons and could use it against them," Kaede commented.

"At the same time, they might be more anxious to get you once they know you're training your powers. If you can use your powers, they'll probably think they have a better chance of you changing the world back to the way it was using those newly learned about powers," the younger priestess informed her.

"Then again, you can use those powers to hold them off and keep them away from you and your friends, until you know enough about your powers to defeat your biggest threat, Naraku," the older woman told her.

They were talking back and forth about both sides of her predicament, making it so she could just listen to them instead of weighting the ups and downs of her problem on her own in her mind. They provided all the information, now it was up to her to make the choice. Did she want to learn about her powers and be able to defend herself, or not?

"I want to learn," she said firmly, interrupting the two as they weighed the advantages and disadvantages of the situation.

"Alright," Kaede said.

"When can we start?"

"Now, of course," Midoriko said as she got to her feet, taking Kagome's hands in hers, making Kagome stand up also.

Midoriko led her by the hand until she was positioned in the center of the room. She pushed on Kagome's shoulders until she fell to the ground with a squeak and the priestess told her to sit in an Indian style position or in any other position she would be comfortable sitting in for awhile. Kagome chose to sit as told and waited for them to tell her what the hell she was doing sitting on the floor.

"The first step is learning to control and conceal your powers. Have you ever meditated before?" Kaede questioned.

"Er… I've heard of it before, but I've never tried. Isn't that where you sit and say, 'Hum'?" Kagome inquired innocently.

Kaede smiled while Midoriko laughed and answered, "no, well, sort of. You don't actually have to say 'hum'. It's what we were doing before you got here. It's a way to be completely at peace, void of all thoughts, but in our cases, it's also a way to keep your powers in check."

"Now close your eyes, Kagome, and try to rid your mind of all thoughts," Kaede told her.

_Yeah, like that's going to happen,_ Kagome thought as her mind became flooded with bits and pieces of thoughts about demons.

She'd see Inuyasha tomorrow in school. Would things be weird between them?… Kouga would be there also… Kagome was surprised they had not broken out fighting in school already… Kouga's two lackeys, Ginta and Hakkaku, were sweet though… she supposed she should learn more about this "Naraku" demon… but how? …She had no idea who he was… or what he looked like or if she'd be able to get him to stop stalking her with his demons… she supposed he was too cowardly to retrieve her on his own….

Someone was tapping on her head, interrupting her thoughts.

"She said clear your mind, not get lost in it," Midoriko stated as she stopped her insistent tapping.

Kagome frowned and grumbled some, trying to clear her mind, pushing back random thoughts that came to her.

"Now, breath in… breath out…" Kaede instructed and continued to tell her what to do as Kagome relaxed and her mind cleared.

* * *

It was two days later, and she had gone back to train with the two priestess each day after school, Miroku and Sango in tow, since

A.she couldn't drive.

B.she didn't have a car even if she did, and

C.she wasn't about to tell her mom where she was going so she needed Miroku to drive her. She spent most of the day sitting on the cold floor, still learning how to meditate. Apparently, she wasn't that good at it.

Many exercises and several hours later, Kagome stumbled outside, exhausted, hoping she did not trip and fall as she walked in the dark toward Miroku's car. She had spent hours training her powers, testing them to little prevail and now she was thoroughly drained of energy. Midoriko had told her it would be a while before she could use her powers, since first she had to get a hold on them. Let's just say, at the moment they were like tiny grains of sand slipping through her fingers. Which meant they were still making her come back everyday after school to train her.

Well, she had asked them to help her, hadn't she?

Now she had to give up some things so that she could become accustom to her new busy schedule. Things like sleep unfortunately, although she could always make up for that during math class and she supposed she could do some homework on the rides there and back instead of at home, since it _was_ almost an hour ride each way….

Thinking proved to be too much for her exhausted mind, so as she slipped into the backseat of the car, she almost immediately fell asleep.

* * *

Kagome was jolted awake when Miroku slammed on the brakes, throwing her forward, making her bang into seat in front of her and then throwing her backward so that she was sprawling on the floor of the car between the backseat and the front ones. Stupid, stupid. Why hadn't she remembered to wear a seat belt? Oh, yeah, maybe because she was half-dead when she crawled into the car. 

Kagome groaned, trying to form words, but she was not aware enough yet, sleep still weighing her down and the pain at being tossed around in the car making her unfocused. Why had Miroku stopped so suddenly? She could only think of two reasons. There was trouble or a particularly hot, young woman had gone by. Somehow Kagome did not think it was the second choice.

Her voice coming back to her, she was only able to say, "W—w-wh-at…?"

"Stay low, Kagome," Miroku told her sternly, his voice full of… something, but Kagome could not tell what.

And, of course, since he told her to stay low, she sat up slowly, bringing her head up just enough so that she could see over the dashboard and through the windshield as a feeling of pure dread ran through.

They were on a small road in the middle of nowhere, meaning she had not been asleep long since they were still in the country area. The only light anywhere around was from the headlights that shone brightly in the dark of the night. There was little moonlight that night and a fog had rolled in, shrouding the area.

In front of the car, maybe thirty feet away, there was a figure in the night. The figure was standing in the light, but the fog veiled them, putting whoever it was in darkness, only its outline shining through. By its outline, Kagome was fairly sure they were male and muscular at that.

A menacing, inhuman growl came from him, just loud enough so that the sound drifted into the car, surrounding the three and Kagome shivered as a chill crept slowly up her spine.

Miroku had stopped the car because he had seen someone in the middle of the road and did not want to hit him, though now, seeing that whoever it was, was _not_ human, and more than that, hostile, Miroku floored the engine, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.

The car screeched forward as it picked up speed fast and Sango pushed Kagome down, seeing she was trying to watched what was going on, but only seconds later, Kagome lifted herself up again, peaking through the window.

The figure—which Kagome assumed was another demon after her—did not even make the slightest movement as the car came at it at incredible speed. The front of the car banged right into the demon, sending him flying backward a few feet, falling onto his back as his legs flew over his head and he did a backward somersault.

They were all jolted forward once again when they hit the demon and Kagome let out a muffled squeak as she was jerked around. Quickly, she got into a sitting position again so that she had a view of what was going on.

The front of the car was steaming, a large indent in the front and to her horror, the lump on the road began moving once again, getting swiftly to his feet, staggering only slightly. Miroku muttered and cursed quite colorfully under his breath, as he pressed the gas petal, but the car refused to start now. Guess the car did not like having a huge indent in the front of it, squishing the engine.

Miroku and Sango exchanged a look and each went for a weapon concealed in the car. Sango opened the glove compartment and took out bottom part of it to reveal a secret compartment that she promptly removed weapons and other objects from that Kagome could not identify.

Sango handed a few things to Miroku, one object that looked suspiciously like a dagger among other dangerous looking objects, while Miroku himself had reached under his seat to produce… a sword? …that he handed to Sango.

Both Miroku and Sango reached for the handle and opened the door into the darkness. Since Miroku had turned off the car, the headlights were no longer on and only the moonlight gave the fog-covered ground an eerie glow, but not enough for Kagome to see outside.

Sango closed the car door behind her, while Miroku stuck his head into the car and gave her a meaningful glare.

"Whatever you do, _stay in the car_," Miroku said firmly, then added, "unless it's absolutely necessary to leave it."

She nodded her agreement dully, her eyes widening slightly. With that, he practically slammed the door behind him, but not before he locked all the doors.

Kagome tried to watch what was going on outside, but only occasionally could she see a couple of shadowed figures, nothing more. She heard the exclamations of her two friends now and then, as well as the occasional growls from the demon.

She squinted her eyes, as though it would help her see better, even if she was only deluding herself, until suddenly something hit the windshield forcefully, making Kagome yell in alarming and jump backward, hitting her head on the top of the car in the process. She ducked as shattered glass was thrown all over the car.

Faintly, she heard the cry of Sango's name from Miroku, but she was not paying much attention, since she could only watch what was in front of her with wide, frightful eyes.

Sango's body was half inside the car, half outside, parts of her going through the broken glass. A spider web of cracks went through the windshield, starting from wherever Sango's body had connected with it with much force. Her eyes were closed, obviously unconscious… or worse. A deep red liquid, blood, ran through the cracks, making its way slowly down, most of it starting from a large gash on Sango's forehead, covering the once clear windshield in a thin layer of red.

Kagome let out a long, fearful scream.

Kagome began to crawl to the front of the car, going closer to Sango, when she heard Miroku's scream of pain. She wanted to run outside and help Miroku but at the same time wanted to stay and help Sango, plus she had said she wouldn't leave the car. Determined to do something, she tried to make her way over to Sango when suddenly the demon was there, grabbing Sango by the arm and rolling her off the top of the car as though she were a rag doll, until her limp body fell onto the road with a large thud and out of Kagome's sight.

Kagome tried to muffle her shriek, to no success, and threw herself into the back seat huddling in the corner, as though that would save her. Maybe if he didn't know Kagome was there she could go unnoticed… and then later get to a phone… or make a run for it to a nearby house to call the police and an ambulance….

She stayed absolutely still, trying to stifle the sobs that tried to come when she thought of Miroku and Sango. They weren't…. Were they?

It was quiet for a few moments that seemed like an eternity, only making the feeling of pure dread intensify within her. Her heart had leap into her throat, the car feeling hot and stuffy, even if there was the occasional cool breeze coming in through the gaps in the windshield where… she had hit. Everything was dark and still for those few moments…

…until all hell broke loose.

The back door across from her was thrown open, literally, the demon actually taking the metal door of the hinges and throwing it to the side on the road as easy as though it were nothing more than a feather. The car light turned on and he reached inside for her with a clawed hand. Quickly, she fumbled with the lock on the door she was pressed against, opening it and falling outside, rolling out onto the pavement, the hand grasping at the air where she had been moments before.

The demon growled and leaped for Kagome, but she scrambled backward and got to her feet, running into the woods by the road. Again, he grabbed for her, catching her ankle so that she fell forcefully to the ground, the pebbles and glass of the road biting into her skin, drawing blood. Kagome kicked blindly until she felt her foot connected with something—his face—making him let go.

She ran for the woods, making it into the shelter of the trees, though she had doubts for how long they would be shelter, if they were any at all to begin with. If she had any luck, she'd be able to reach someone with a phone… but then again, she wouldn't want to led a demon to someone's house….

She needed to get back to Kaede and Midoriko. The only problem is, she didn't know which way to go, or how close it was. Why, oh, why hadn't she ever paid attention when they were going to the priestess' home?

Kagome did not get far in the forest before she heard the demon advancing on her. She sped up and the demon gave hot pursuit, letting out a defiant and deadly howl as he also sped up at a pace that would make it easy for him to catch up with her. She was sure he could have easily caught her by now but he was drawing the hunt out. He was… _enjoying_ this… this chase. He thought it a game. Her friends were lying in the middle of the road with deadly wounds. A game?

Wait a second…

Howl?

Before she could even thinking about that troubling fact, strong arms wrapped around her waist roughly, lifting her feet off the ground and began hauling her backward. She struggled in his arms, but the more she struggled the deeper he dug his demonic nails into the flesh of her sides making her squeal.

She kicked her feet and flailed her trapped arms around wildly, struggling to get free. The back of her foot connected with his shin and he threw her away from him with a infuriated growl. She stumbled away trying desperately to keep her balance as she tried to run but she fell to the grass in a matter of seconds. She tried to crawl away as she attempted to scramble to her feet, but it did not do much.

Her attacker rolled her onto her back and climbed on top of her so that his body pinned her to the ground, also pinning her arms to her sides at the same time. With him pressed up against her, Kagome could feel his arousal at their current situation that thoroughly disgusted her. This demon _liked_ the fact that she was afraid and that he had all the power, him and her both knowing that he could kill her in an instant if he wanted to. He enjoyed hunting her friends, hunting _her_, smelling the fear that cloaked her.

That was when she finally caught sight of his face.

His normal cold blue eyes were now just puddles of deep blue, the white in his eyes completely gone since he was in his demonic form at the moment. She was not sure if it was the excitement that changed him, or if it was because he had always looked human to blend in with others, or maybe he when he got into full power he changed. Kagome was betting on the latter.

His jet black hair blended with the night, though if there were light she knew she would have seen what looked like dark blue streaks in his hair. He had always been handsome, but in a deadly, cold way. He gave her a wolfish grin—which made sense since he _was_ a wolf—though it was none too friendly. His eyes held a murderous glint, his nature now more animal than human… or would it be better put to say his demon nature? Demon, wolf, whatever he was at the moment, was nothing near human—not that he ever was human—and more predatorily with a one track mind that said, "kill" instead of the complex thinking of a human.

His pools of blue were glaring into her dark brown eyes as she whispered his name in an annoyed and slightly frightful voice.

"Yukio."

At his name, his grip tightened on her, but some of his wits came back to him. Yukio got up abruptly, dragging Kagome up with him. The moment her feet touched the ground he picked her up and swung her roughly over one shoulder, running with inhuman speed through the forest.

Now, being hung halfway upside down as someone—more accurate some_thing_—ran with unnatural speed was not exactly very settling for her stomach. She had a very good urge to throw up and if she did, it would be all over Yukio's back. In her mind, he deserved it, but she doubted _he_, the _demon_ hauling her to only god knows where, would enjoy such a thing.

She closed her eyes, trying to keep the urge to hurl down, and so that she would not have to see the trees speeding by them. Where being carried by demons was concerned, she liked being cared by Inuyasha much better.

Inuyasha…

She had not seen him since he had kissed… since he had come to her room that night, having not showed up at school since that night. Where was he now?

Finally, she felt them stop and he dropped her onto the ground, which thankfully was grass instead of cement pavement. She took a moment to get over her nausea and waited for the world to stop spinning.

Shakily, she got up to her feet, finally noticing where he had brought her. He had brought her to… her school?

They stood in the field behind her school with few trees around them, except the large one her and Inuyasha often sat together under. Yukio leaned his forehead against the tree as his breathing came out raggedly and, although his eyes were closed, she was almost sure his eyes were changing back to their normal blue. His claws retracted, becoming stubby human nails as the predator inside him receded and he tried to regain control of himself again and resisted the urge to kill, trying to take on his human disguise once more. Kagome took a step backward, preparing to run, figuring since he had not killed her yet, he might not want to, but she was worried about what _else_ he was thinking about doing to her, or if he would kill her if that other, more wolfish side of him came out once again.

"Don't even think about leaving," he growled in a low voice to her, without even glancing at her, "I could hunt you down in a second, girl."

She froze, no longer trying to escape, but glared defiantly at him. Slowly, Yukio turned around, as though he could feel her gaze boring into him, and glared back, which was when Kagome noticed his eyes were back to their normal cold blue.

"What do you want from me then?" she asked.

"Everything has to be about you, doesn't it?" His words were meant to confuse her, since he was really here to just take her, but she did not have to know that.

She gave him an annoyed, yet bemused look. "Why else would you capture me? There's no point in kidnapping me if it's not about me…." The words died on her lips as she realized how foolish and selfish that sounded. Could it have been about Miroku and Sango? …or maybe Inuyasha…?

"So your queen of the fucking world now, is that it, love? Not everything is centered around you." He moved closer. "You should remember your place."

"And where is that?" she asked boldly, though she took a step back, ruining the effect.

"In the gutters with the rest of the humans, but just because you're this… this _special girl_ of prophecy, you matter now, sweet," he told her, using one of his pet name for her, even if it was said resentfully. _You'd think it'd be easy to capture one little girl, but this girl always seems to avoid the demons, but how? _Yukio wondered. Out loud, he continued to torment her. "But if it wasn't for your fucking powers…"

"What?"

"You'd be dead now," Yukio told her, advancing on her, "you'd be dead now, if it weren't for them."

"Is that a threat?" she inquired, keeping her distance.

"No, reality. I'd have either killed you back then when we were kids, or Kouga wouldn't have stopped me from killing you after I knocked you out. The only reason you're so 'safe' is because of your stupid powers."

She knew it was true, but it did not stop her from being angry with him, but as he moved closer her anger was replaced quickly with panic. Kagome kept taking steps back, but he continued to stalk toward her. She moved until she was backed up into the tree, with him too close for her to move around the large oak and scramble away.

He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "Ah, I love the smell of fear, Sweetie," he said as he opened his eyes.

Yukio reached out, taking a tendril of her hair in his hand gently, playing with the lock. His touch was gentle, but the motion was threatening nonetheless.

Remembering some of the few things the two woman had taught her in their three sessions, Kagome closed her eyes, focusing on bringing her power out and around her. She did not have a good control of her powers yet, so finding her power and controlling them as they tried to escape and leak out of her proved to be difficult. She bit her lip as pain seared through her, through every fiber of her being. Her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood and her lip split, bringing the metallic taste into her mouth as her eyes shot open and she screamed in agony. The few cuts and bruises she had gotten when he had chased her bled quicker while the gashes became larger and reopened. Cuts that had not been there before began formed all over Kagome's body, appearing from no where.

A pink light, her power, swirled violently around her and Yukio dropped the lock of hair as though it had burned him and moved away. Specks of pink appeared in her eyes and therefore in her line of view.

"Stop that!" he yelled angrily at her.

Her mind was screaming, telling her to stop, but she forced what little control she had left on throwing her power at Yukio in a forcefully attempt. A small spark jumped from her to him in the form of a small lightning bolt and just as fast. Yukio did not realize what happened until after it hit him.

His flesh was burnt, sizzling, but it was only a small portion of his upper arm where her power had struck out and seared. She could not do it. It was too much power, too little control and he was too strong, since he was a demon and she was untrained.

"That actually hurt, Sweetie. Stung a bit too." He brought his other hand to his arm, touching the burnt skin lightly without wincing. "So, your getting some training, are you? It's obviously not enough. Maybe one day you'll actually be able to cause me _mild_ pain."

It was actually a lie since his arm hurt like hell, but he was not about to let her see that. He tried to move his burnt arm but immediately had to stop before he cried out. Yukio reached his other arm toward her, but her barrier of pink light stopped it. The moment he touched it, he was thrown back a few feet but Kagome took no notice, too busy with the wounds that appeared and bled all over her body.

Kagome fell to her hands and knees, panting between screams. Yukio growled as he stood back up, irritated that Kagome had banded him from coming close, just like she had when he had sent those wolves after her. After she had fallen unconscious, the pink light had surrounded her, keeping her, and her little demon slayer friend, from getting harmed. Now she called out that power on her own, but she was having more than a little trouble. The wind pick up around her, swirling around her with the light, forming a barrier around her so Yukio could not get in, making the barrier even stronger then it was before. If he tried to touch it now, his hand would be burnt too.

A growl sounded behind Kagome and another demon flew past her and slammed into Yukio. Except, it wasn't another demon… at least not a full-blooded one.

_Inuyasha…?_ Kagome thought wearily between the pain that filled her head and screams that escaped her, leaving not that much time for actual thought.

Fighting ensued between the two males, but Kagome did not see. Her hair had fallen into her eyes and she dared not move an inch, afraid of how much the pain she was feeling would magnify if she moved. Her eyes might not be able to see them, but her ears picked out on the sounds of fighting, including the sound of someone's fist connecting repeatedly to the other's face.

Beginning to get weaker, her arms trembled with the strength it took to keep herself up, and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop from screaming again, though a whimper escaped her.

Yukio fell to the ground with such force that it would have been bone crushing if he had been human. He tried to get up, but Inuyasha planted his foot squarely in the middle of his back, pushing him down once more. Yukio lifted his head up and Kagome and Yukio's eyes met.

"We'll be meeting again when you don't have the _hanyou_ to protect you, sweetie," he hissed at her.

Then he kicked Inuyasha's feet from under him, making him fall to the floor and he took off running.

Inuyasha jumped to his feet, cursing after Yukio and calling him a coward. He was about to go after and hunt him down, when he felt _it_ behind him.

When she saw Yukio leave and move completely out of view, Kagome let go of everything she was trying to hold back, letting go of all control she had been desperate to keep before. The moment she surrendered, Kagome fell to the ground with a thud, the pink light and wind surrounding her quickly vanishing. Gashes stopped forming, but the ones that had appeared when she had called out her powers did not fade, just stopped bleeding as fast.

Her vision was blurry so she closed her eyes, but she could not open them again. Not a muscle in her body would move on command, all her energy drained completely. A voice was calling to her and she tried to swim to the surface of the abyss she was falling into, but failed miserably. Her mind was beginning to be taken into the darkness.

Inuyasha fell at her side, looking at her with worried-filled eyes. He gathered her up in his arms, lying her in his lap gently. There was not an inch of her skin that was not covered in a thin layer of blood, from all the wounds that had appeared, except for her face where only one cut ran across one cheek, blood trailing down the side of her face like tears.

"Kagome…?" he asked softly, then more loudly, "Kagome!"

He could feel it, feel her slipping away. Her body was being drained of all energy but it was more than that.

_Kagome, what have you done to yourself?_ he asked her silently.

She had needed energy to manage her power, more energy then she had in her to give, especially after being so exhausted after training all afternoon. So, without realizing, she had done anything she could to control that power.

Somewhere along the way she had tapped into her life's energy.

And her life was slipping away as he clutched her to his chest, tears forming in his eyes.

* * *

She hurt too much to be dead, she knew that much. 

Not so much hurt though, as felt exhausted. Totally and utterly, exhausted in body, mind, and soul.

How had she survived?

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, though she was reluctant to. She did not recognize the dim room she was in, or the bed, which frightened her. What had happened after…?

She took a deep breath in, the scent of the room, that fresh, crisp aroma reaching her along with a few other familiar scents. With Kaede and Midoriko, that's where she was. But how?

"So you're finally up," said a female voice that she knew belonged to Kaede.

Kagome tried to sit up, but her arms felt like Jell-O and shook violently when she tired to lift herself up even the slightest bit and she collapsed back on the bed. Kaede walked over, as well as Midoriko and they helped her to sit up, piling the pillows behind her so she could lean on them.

Glancing outside Kagome saw it dark outside. If it was still night so she hadn't been out for that long….

Seeing where her gaze went, Midoriko informed her "you've been out for three days."

"Three days!" she squeaked.

Kaede nodded. "You got here Tuesday night, it's now Friday."

"But how did I get here? What happened?" More events crashed into her mind and she sat up straight in the bed, only to fall back heavily on the pillows, still not strong enough. "Sango and Miroku! Are they okay? And my mom! She must be worried sick…" Kagome babbled on in a panic.

"One question at a time, child," Kaede told her.

"Sango and Miroku are in the hospital, fine for the most part, but the doctors want to do a few more tests before they let them out. We've spoken to your mother, saying you were stranded her after the Miroku's car 'accident' and that you've been under a lot of stress so you're here for the time being. She was very understanding," Midoriko said.

_And my mom bought that?_ Kagome wondered, as she felt guilty for all the lies she'd been having to tell her mom. Her mom had thought she had been doing community service after school, not getting trained because there were demons after her.

Midoriko continued. "Inuyasha brought you here after you nearly killed yourself. You would have too if it had not been for him. You're lucky he showed up." She scrunched her nose in a displeasing way. "Even if he is a hanyou."

"Wh-what?" Kagome asked, perplexed.

Kaede sat down on the edge of the bed, regarding her intently. "You were dying, Kagome. You had drained yourself of all your life's energy. You had been very foolish. Inuyasha had to transfer his energy to you to keep you alive."

A feeling of pure dread took over her and her body felt icy.

Kagome's eyes widened. "He's not…? Is he?" she said in a frightened whisper, as tears welled up in here eyes at the mere thought. No, no, he couldn't be….

Midoriko answered instead of the older woman. "No, he's still very much alive. I can tell from the headache he gave me as he ranted on after he woke up." She rubbed her temples in remembrance of the headache. "He was also unconscious for a day. He gave you too much of his energy."

"He tried to keep you alive with his own life force, but since he's half-demon you rejected his energy after awhile, so he could only sustain you until he brought you to us. We cared for you after," Kaede stated.

Her heart leaped into her throat. Why… why would he do that for her? Almost give his own life so she would still live…. Sure, he had saved her before, but fighting was something he knew how to do and he was always positive he would come out the victor and very much alive. What he did for her… he would not have known if he would come out of that alive or not.

Why? Why had he done it?

"That was reckless, careless thing you did. You could have killed yourself easily. You don't have enough training to attempt something that drastic," the younger woman scolded.

"I didn't have a choice!" Kagome protested, "he was going to kidnap me!"

"No, Inuyasha would have saved you as he did," she responded.

"Except, how was I suppose to know he was coming? All I knew was I was being taken to the enemy, actually _your _enemy. You'd think you'd at least be concerned about that part of all this. Besides, I would think you'd be happy," she said bitterly, "if I'm dead then the _demons _can't use me."

_And in that same way, you're just as bad as the demons,_ she thought_, your organization is no different from the rest. Everyone wants to use me in some way. _

_Except… Inuyasha._

"Kagome, you misunderstand," Kaede said, "we don't want you to get hurt. We just worry about you that's all. We should have cautioned you before starting your training that you should not use your powers until you are able to handle them. You have strong powers, so it will take longer, but in the end it will be worth it."

What was missing from the end of that sentence was the "hopefully" because no one really knew what would happen. For all anyone knew, Kagome could blow up herself by the end of the training.

Kaede: I want you to try to bring out your powers now.

Kagome: Wow, this is easy!

Midoriko: Now, focus on striking out and destroying that vase on the table.

Kagome: Er… Alright…

KABOOM!

"Big kaboom," Kagome muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Midoriko asked curiously, hearing her mutter something.

"Nothing," she replied sheepishly. Feeling that they were about to start lecturing her again about the misuse of her powers, she added, "can I just be alone now? I'm kind of wiped."

The two were silent until Kaede nodded and they left the room silently, leaving Kagome alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Inuyasha felt when Kagome wake, a small portion of his life force still inside her that she had yet to push away. Although she was not conscious of it, sooner or later her body would reject that small portion too. It was like there was an invisible string that stretched from him and right to where she was. He could fell her in the priestesses' house, he knew exactly where she was. Even if he had not been the one to bring her there, he would have been able to find her easily. 

He took off into the night, heading toward Kagome.

He was extremely relieved she had woken up, because when he had first brought her there… let's just say, things were not looking good. He had almost lost her and that scared him to no end. Of course, then he had fallen unconscious, yet still when he woke up… she had not.

Now he remembered why he had not wanted to be so close to her. He had felt her dying while he held her in his arms… her energy slipping away…. It might be selfish, but he did not want to feel that pain if she suddenly died or was taken away… and neither did he want her to feel tormented if he died. Inuyasha did not want to inflict any pain on her… so he had tried to stay away. He had _tried_ but when he was at her house that night…. He should have told her he could not protect her, that he had to leave… but he _didn't_ actually want to. He wanted to stay… to be with her.

He cursed himself for his own contradicting mind. He was going to argue himself into a headache he just knew it.

Reaching the house, he easily slid through the window of the room Kagome was in. She turned his way, startled at first, then she downcast her eyes, watching her hands in her lap instead. He noticed that most of her small wounds were gone, having healed when he, and then the two woman, had given her their strength.

He stalked over to the bed, looking down at her, ready to let her have it.

"Do you know how stupid you were? How stupidly you acted? You nearly _killed_ yourself, Kagome! And all because of that fucking demon, one of the wolves. I told you not to trust them…. You told me you could trust Kouga to keep _that_ wolf away from you and that trust _nearly got you killed._ Killed as in gone, never coming back! Are you even listening to me! You were _dying_."

_And I was holding you, crying, as you faded…_ he added silently.

Something was wrong though. Kagome did not argue back like she usually did. She just continued to stare at her hands, not looking at him.

She would not look at him, her gaze firmly in her lap. Kagome moved not a muscle as he talked to her, not even acknowledging his presence at all. The only reason he knew she was aware of him was because she glanced at him as he came in.

Angry at being ignored, he went over to her and grasped her chin, forcefully making her look up at him. Their eyes only met for a fraction of the second before she jerked out of his grasp and stared out the window so she would not be looking at him, but that fraction of a second was enough.

In that brief moment, he had seen so many emotions in her eyes. Regret, guilt, vulnerability, and pain among others.

"If it hadn't been for you I would have died…" were the whispered words that came from her. If he had been human, he would not have heard the soft words.

All his anger with her evaporated after that. His anger had been a cover up for his concern but now he let her see the worry that was in his eyes, although she still wold not look his way. Now he felt guilty for yelling at her like he did. And to think before he came he had wanted to yell more….

"I just got the lecture from Kaede and Midoriko. I don't need one from you too," she said quietly.

Silence followed. The room felt hot and stuffy, she could not stand it. She felt like a prisoner. Kagome turned her head, tearing her gaze from the window, to finally look at him.

With a pleading look in her eyes, she asked in a whisper, "please… just take me away. I don't want to be here any longer."

Whether she went the actually house or if she was tired of all the stress, he did not know, but he complied.

It was obvious she was still weak, so Inuyasha picked her up, one arm under her knees, while the other went around her back so that he held her bridal style. She rested her head against his chest, taking a deep breath inward. She closed her eyes and listened to the relaxing sound of his heartbeat as he took her into the night.

With him… she knew she would be alright. He would protect, he always did.

* * *

The cold breeze of the night blew across Kagome's face as she sat, leaning against the ledge of the roof they were on. She looked straight ahead, looking at the city during the night with all the tall building around her. Inuyasha sat next to her, one leg drawn up and his arms draped casually over it with his head tilted downward so his bangs hung over his golden eyes. 

They were on the roof that overlooked the department store she use to work at and that same roof Inuyasha had been on when he first saw her getting attacked and had saved her. So long ago it seemed, yet it was only two months previous. The day had signaled the beginning of her new life, aware of new dangers and threats.

She looked over at Inuyasha, breaking the silence as she asked, "how'd you know where to bring me?"

His head snapped upward and he turned to meet her gaze. "What do you mean?"

She was distracted for a moment since when he turned it brought their faces only inches apart. His warm breath caressed her cheek.

Finally getting her wits back, she asked her question. "How did you know about Kaede and Midoriko?"

He blushed slightly and Kagome smiled inwardly. So he had followed her once again.

_I__n a way, I'm flattered that he did, even if it is on the stalker-ish side,_ she thought, then added wryly,_you know something wrong when you're happy someone stalking you._

"I heard of the thr—two before, so I thought that would be a good place to bring you," he said in a partial lie.

It was true that he had followed her one day, curious where the her two friends and protectors were bringing her and just because he had wanted to check up on her, but he had also known the three priestesses from a few years earlier, although he had only spoken with the two older woman a few times, but that was a whole different story.

She opened her mouth to inquire another question, no doubt, so he answered before she could ask the full question. Kagome seemed to like to ask question a lot, he took note of.

"When I was with Yukio—" she began.

"How'd I find you? Three things, I heard your scream, I smelt your blood, and most of all I felt your power."

"Well, you were using three out of the five senses, your mother would be proud," she said dryly.

"I think every demon in a ten mile range felt your power," Inuyasha commented, only half-joking.

"Then how come no others came?"

"Either fear or disinterest, probably," he sneered, "Kagome, that was a _hell_ of a lot power you were letting off. I've never felt anything like it before._ Anything_."

"Yeah, lucky me," she said sarcastically, "I almost killed myself with that power."

She had looked away off into the night's sky as she said it, but gently, Inuyasha touched her cheek, bringing her to face him again.

"You did what you thought was best. Now next time you'll know not to do that." Seeing the indecisive look on her face he added, more firmly, "_right_?"

She nodded her head mutely and moved away so his hand fell to his side. She looked off into the distance once more, failing to notice the look of disappointment on Inuyasha's face.

They were silent, stuck in an awkward moment. Kagome, however, was too busy thinking things over in her mind to notice the awkwardness to much.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked softly after a while.

"Yeah?" he said gruffly.

"Do you… do you ever wish it was how it use to be?" From his blank look she continued, still speaking softly, "you know, when demons had power over the humans."

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, "I'm half and half, never really fitting in either world, so why should it be any better if the demons ruled. But what do I know? I was never alive during those times. I _am_ only seventeen. My dad was alive though, he was a couple of thousand years old."

"Was?"

"He died a long time ago," he said shortly.

"Was he powerful?"

"Yeah, had a weak spot for humans though." _Or mainly, just my mom_, Inuyasha thought.

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, I guess." His voice had softened when he talked about his father, then his voice became hard again, "look, I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered.

Her eyes started to moisten when she began to think about her own father and how he had died when she was seven. Had it been her fault? Had the demons been searching for her and gotten her dad instead? There were still so many unanswered questions in her life.

Seeing Kagome's eyes well up with tears, Inuyasha panicked. He never did well with crying women.

"Hey, don't cry! I didn't mean to snap at you—" he began, not even sure why he was apologizing.

She shook her head rapidly, trying to tell him it was not because of him, as she wiped the tears away in frustration. Kagome shivered involuntarily, as the night got even colder. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm that did not do much. Seeing her discomfort, Inuyasha move the side of the roof and came back with a blanket in hand.

"Here," he told her, offering the blanket to her.

She took it gratefully, and wrapped around herself. She noticed it was worn and tattered in places, but it was warm nonetheless. But… why did he have a blanket here of all places? A thought struck her.

"Inuyasha, where's your home?" she inquired.

He wanted to lie, and tell her he lived in a grand house with his mother. He might have lied too, if he had not made the mistake at looking into her eyes.

_Stupid, alluring eyes,_ he thought grumpily.

"I—I don't have one, alright? My parents… they died when I was young, so I've been living on my own ever since. It doesn't matter where I live though, I'm part demon, I'm comfortable anywhere I want to be." Seeing the question in her eyes, he continued, "when I'm finished with high school I'll get a job and my own apartment. Right now… it doesn't matter."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?" he asked sharply, "you have nothing to be sorry for. It's not like you killed them or anything. I've been on my own for a long time now. There's nothing to be sorry for. I don't care anyway."

"But Inuyasha…" she began.

He silenced her by putting a hand over her mouth. Again, a question formed in her eyes, but he ignored her, his eyes searching the shadows of the roof. Abruptly, he haled her onto her feet, the blanket that had been around her shoulders falling to the ground, and took her swiftly by the door that led down into the building. They stood outside it, Kagome pressed against the door with Inuyasha practically on top of her, both pooled in the light that hung next to the door. Her legs were still weak from exhaustion, but his body and the wall kept her standing in place.

Inuyasha's eyes were still darting back and forth in the shadows, while Kagome was trying to relearn how to breath with him pressed on top of her like he was.

"Wh-what…?" she stammered out.

"Shh," he hissed at her. He brought his lips right down to her ear, which was not _really_ helping her breathing situation and he murmured softly, "there's a demon lurking in the shadows, well more like, _is_ a part of the shadows. I don't think it can see, but it _can_ sense human energy so…."

So he figured by covering her, it would not be able to sense her. The only problem is, Inuyasha was also part human so could not offer that much protection from whatever it was. She stiffened and tried not to focus on the demon, but the harder she tried not the focus on it, the more she did.

Kagome was too tense and giving off a faint scent of fear, Inuyasha noticed. Demons, no matter what kind, were often extremely good at finding anything that feared it. He needed her to relax, then the shadowed demon would not find them. So he let some of his animal instincts take over like they always wanted to when he was around her.

His mouth still right next to her ear, he nipped her ear playfully, letting his teeth graze over her lobe and then his tongue did the same as his arms snaked around her waist, pulling them closer together.

"Inuyasha…" she said in a soft gasp as she melted against him, though there was still some slight tension between her shoulder blades. He could fix that.

He brought his face down to gently nuzzle her neck, then teased the skin with soft kisses. Her arms were trapped at her side, making her unable to run her hands through his hair like she had a strong urge to do. Inuyasha could sense her need and smiled against her neck, while giving the side of her neck a hot lick.

Before she could cry out, he crushed her mouth with his, bringing her into a rough, passionate kiss. She had her eyes closed as she shyly parted her lips and he smiled inwardly while slipping his tongue between her parted lips. Any of the coldness Kagome had felt before was gone when Inuyasha kissed her and she forgot everything else but his touch.

He put everything he was inside that kiss. His life, his hopes, his desire and passion, his ecstasy when with her, his fears when he had felt her life slipping away while she lay limp in her arms. Everything, into that one kiss, trying to explain unsaid words.

Abruptly, he removed his lips from hers and she whimpered, trying to find his unattainable lips. Instead, she felt Inuyasha's lips kiss their way down her jaw and to her neck once more. His eyes, however, were not closed, searching the shadows for the demon instead.

The shadowed demon began to slither into the light, bringing the shadows with him. Inuyasha tensed and brought Kagome into him closer while still running his lips over her neck, covering her with his scent. If Inuyasha could have killed the demon he could, but he could no more kill the demon then he could kill a shadow. They may disappear from time to time, but the shadows was never truly gone.

It paused for a moment, hesitating as it sensed its surrounding, then slid away, moving far from the two.

After a few more seconds, Inuyasha let go of Kagome slowly, taking a few steps from her. She opened her eyes and they remained unfocused while Inuyasha just watched her with golden eyes full of affection. She leaned against the wall for supported, her breath erratic.

"Inuyasha…" she said breathy, though in a sweet way. He moved closer—only to be hit in the arm by her forcefully. It was not too hard, but none too gentle either. "Jerk! You only did that so I'd calm down and so that demon would go away," she yelled at him, looking quite mad.

Inuyasha was bewildered and said angrily, "yeah, so? Did you _want_ the demon to find us?"

Why did things never go right with her? Why was she always so unpredictable? It was intriguing, yet annoying at the same time.

Her face was flushed. "That's not the point! What is this, some game to you?"

She rambled on, stomping her foot and yelling at him while he began to comprehend her anger toward him. Kagome did not understand why he was kissing her, or at least thought he was doing so for the wrong reasons.

Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat, not willing to come out. Instead, he went over to her and cut her off mid-sentence, covering her lips with his.

Kagome protested against his hot, moist lips, but it was not long before she melted back into his arms. His hands slid down her figure and gripped her hips tightly as he deepened the kiss. He took his lips away moments later and leaned his forehead against hers, both of their eyes still closed.

"I should bring you back," Inuyasha whispered into her lips, before taking her lips into another, nearly chaste, kiss.

"Mmm, you should," Kagome agreed, though her words were mumbled. Why could she never hold onto her anger for long near him?

He lifted her up in his arms once again, but before he began jumping for roof to roof she asked him.

"Um… do you think we can go somewhere before we go back?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Where? And if you say Kouga's place, I'm telling you I will drop you right now and leave here."

She giggled, and said, "no, not there." Her face suddenly got more serious. "Could we… go and see Sango and Miroku in the hospital?"

Inuyasha looked at her for only a moment and saw the concern in her eyes. He nodded firmly and took off into the night toward the hospital, with Kagome in his arms.


	9. Chapter 9: Seductresses and Wolves

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

* * *

**__**

In a World of Demons

Chapter 9: Seductresses and Wolves

* * *

Kagome walked through the streets of the city, her arms hugging herself as she did in an attempt to keep out the cold. So far, it wasn't really working. 

From the corner of her eye, she kept seeing flashes of black from the rooftops. She'd come to the conclusion awhile ago that someone—or something—was following her.

Her grip tightened on the bag she was carrying, so much so that her knuckles turned white. She did not want the thing following her to follow her home because then she could be putting her mother and brother in danger as well. So, acting like a typically ditz would, she walked into a deserted alleyway nearby. Sure enough, she saw the blur land on the roof of the building next to her.

Kagome kept walking, slower now, the sound of her shoes hitting the concrete echoing off the walls.

She felt as much as heard the thing drop to the ground behind her. She would not have heard him if it were not for the wind that made his clothes rustle as he landed behind her. But she could also feel him and his demonic energy. Yukio, was her first thought.

He crept silently forward but she was ready for him. She spun around quickly and hit him in the head as hard as she could with her bag. The demon fell to the floor, his face spread across the concrete.

"Ow, what the hell was that for!" he exclaimed.

She froze. Hey, wait a second, she recognized that obnoxious voice.

"Oh, sorry Inuyasha!" she said, rushing to his side and helping him up.

He yanked his arm out of her reach and rubbed the side of his face that had a huge red mark on it.

"You didn't have to hit me," he growled.

"I thought you were a demon trying to attack me. You _were_ following me," she accused.

"Yeah, well it's a good thing I did. I killed a demon following you, not twenty minutes ago. I was following to see if there were anymore."

"You know, you could walk with me instead of following me like some stalker," she challenged, crossing her arms, then abruptly began walking away toward the streets once more.

"I am _not_ a stalker," he called after her, not moving.

"Uh-huh. Riight. Just keep telling yourself that," she teased and lifted a hand in a goodbye gesture without turning around, then disappeared from view as she turned onto the walkway.

"Hey, wait up!" he called as he jogged out of the alley and caught up to her so he was walking beside her.

She smiled secretly. Now he'd walk with her instead of following her.

"What do you have in that bag anyway? Bricks?" Inuyasha inquired, half-heartedly.

"Actually, yes," she responded.

He stopped. "What?"

She kept walking. "Well, I need them to keep some zealous demons at bay, now don't I?" she said with a laugh as she turned to look back at him.

He tried to frown, he really did, but he could not help the corners of his mouths that turned upwards. Kagome's smile only grew as she saw him trying to keep from smiling.

"So how are Sango and Miroku doing?" Inuyasha asked once he caught up with her again.

The smile dropped from her face completely. It had been two weeks since she had woken up after knocking herself unconscious with her powers and her two best friends had only been let out a week before. Luckily, nothing was broken for either of them, but otherwise they were hurt pretty badly. Kaede and Midoriko had almost completely healed them, but they would not be going back to school until Monday, since it would seem odd how they had healed so quickly after an accident. Still just in case anyone knew how bad the accident was, there were a few bruises they had to heal on their own, the painfully slow way.

"Better, I guess," Kagome said gloomily, kicking a rock as they walked, her head turned downward.

Yukio had also not shown his face since he had taken her, but then again, she had not asked Kouga about him. Kagome began to wonder if Yukio was in league with Naraku since he had come after her, or was it just his need for petty revenge? Somehow she did not want to tell any of it to Kouga. Because… because, well, if she did, Kouga would most likely kill him and Kagome… she wanted him to live so then maybe… then she could the good in him. 

It sounded stupid, especially after he attacked her, but… there had been something different about him. He had stopped himself before he hurt her. Maybe he just didn't want to kill her or maybe, just maybe, there was some good in him after all, even if it was a small amount. Then again, he could just need her like everybody else and had been ordered not to kill her. Who knew anymore?

Inuyasha looked down at her and seeing her solemn face, began, "sorry, I didn't mean to… are you okay?"

He was not even sure what he was apologizing for, he only had a feeling that he should.

She tilted her head up to look at him and gave him a warm smile. "I'm fine. It's just that… it's my fault they're hurt. It's always _my _fault. They come after me… and others get hurt. Sometimes I wish—"

Abruptly, she stopped talking when she felt the knot in his stomach tighten. Beside her, Inuyasha, too, tensed. From Inuyasha, Kagome had recently become aware of the slight demon aura around him and she felt it as a tingling in her stomach. Now she felt another demon aura, one strong enough to knot her stomach with its awful presence.

Kagome whipped her head around her, this way and that, but there were a number of people passing her at the moment and she could not tell exactly where the feeling was coming from. Inuyasha gripped her wrist, as a sign to tell her to stop scrutinizing the people so intently around them.

She stopped and took many stiff steps forward, trying to keep herself collected, especially since some of the people around her were starting to give her strange looks. Kagome felt someone bump into her arm and she stumbled back slightly, but not too badly, since Inuyasha had a grip on her.

Turning back to see the person who bumped into her, Kagome's brown eyes clashed with red ones. A slight smile appeared on the woman's face, though it was anything less than pleasant. That was all Kagome could notice before the woman with the blood red eyes melted into the crowd, disappearing.

What kind of person had red eyes? But that was just it. No _person _did, but a demon could.

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked curiously, seeing the dazed expression on her face.

"I just saw…" Kagome started, but stopped both in words and motion when she noticed something perplexing.

There was something gripped in her hand, something she had not been holding before. Looking down inquisitively, she found a small folded up piece of white paper in her hand. She chanced a glance at the hanyou beside her, but he was staring at the paper in her hand.

Timidly, Kagome opened the white paper, ignoring the people giving Inuyasha and she dirty looks for stopping in the middle of the busy sidewalk. She began reading the message on the paper to herself, noticing the elegant-seeming female handwriting.

Meet me tonight at one in the alley behind the club Disillusion. Come alone.

That was it. No name, no reason. Just those two small sentences. 

Inuyasha took it from her and read it angrily, then made his hand into a fist, crumpling the paper forcefully. He then looked to Kagome once again, but her gaze was locked on the wrinkled note in his hand.

"You weren't thinking of going, were you?" Inuyasha inquired, furiously.

At first she did not answer. He squeezed the note tighter in his fist.

"Kagome," he said warningly through gritted teeth.

"…Of course not," Kagome said tentatively. If he noticed the hesitation in her voice, he decided not to comment.

He walked her all the way home, keeping an eye on her the entire way. She was lost in thought for the majority of the way and it was not hard to guess what she was thinking.

Inuyasha stayed by her side until she reached the door, than without so much as a goodbye—although he did give her a meaningful glance—he left. Kagome noticed he kept the message from the demoness, having somewhere along the way thrown it into his pocket. Not like it mattered anyway.

The information had been simple enough for her to remember.

* * *

Kagome paced back and forth in her room for what must have been the millionth time. She was surprised she had not worn a hole through the carpet yet. But she supposed that was partial thanks to the soft pink bunny slippers she was wearing that cushioned her feet. 

Thinking it over a many number of times, she always came to the same conclusion.

She would not go.

It would be stupid.

Beyond stupid. It would be idiotic. Irrational. Ridiculous. Preposterous. And a bunch of other words that described the stupidity of it.

And yet… a part of her, the curious part of her, wanted to go. Wanted to know why this demoness wanted to see her. The demoness could want to kill her, true, but it could want to help her instead. It seemed a long shot, but in a way demons were like humans. They were neither good nor evil by nature. Life experiences made them who they were. Inuyasha, Kouga and his pack were proof of this.

Nevertheless, in the end she always came to the same conclusion. She couldn't take the risk. If she was to get hurt…. Kagome did not want to have her loved ones to be troubled on her account.

She would _not_ go.

* * *

Kagome sighed as she walked through the school hallways, her eyelids feeling heavy. She was dead tired after getting little sleep the night previous since she had been contemplating whether or not to go for most of the night. Luckily, it was Friday so she'd be able to sleep late the next day. Of course, that was only if she did not have to go see Kaede and Midoriko for another one of their torture sessions. Err, lessons, she meant. 

She came in view of her locker, only to not be able to gain access to it since there was a couple leaning against it, making out.

"Excuse me," Kagome said politely, but she was ignored by the couple.

"Excuse me," she said again, this time with more of an edge to it.

Of course, again she was ignored and by now Kagome was losing her patience. The heavy books she was carrying in her arms were not helping her mood either.

Kagome tapped her foot impatiently. "Hey, you two. Move," she told them rudely.

The male of the couple detached his lips from the girl to stare at Kagome for only a moment and give her a too-bad-for-you look, before beginning to kiss his girlfriend—at least she _assumed_ it was his girlfriend—again.

Inhaling sharply, Kagome was about to yell at them once more when a male voice came from behind her.

"Beat it," the male voice said, referring to the two against the locker.

Kagome turned around to see the male behind her at the same time the couple looked up to snap at whoever had interrupted them for a second time. However, their words died when they saw just who had spoken.

Kouga grinned in a menacing way that was more a baring of teeth than an actual good-natured smile. The two scrambled quickly away from Kagome's locker.

He may not have been there long, but Kouga had made quite a reputation for himself already, faster than even Inuyasha when he came to the school. Most of the students were terrified of him already and he did not even have to beat anyone up, like Inuyasha had to. Kagome believed that last part saddened him a bit. He would have rather beaten a few people up here and there.

Kagome smiled brightly at him. "Thanks, Kouga."

Since Miroku and Sango had not been around in school for awhile, Kouga and his two wolves had taken to hanging around her. Not that she minded. She got lonely if there was no around to talk with and Kouga was quite sweet, once you got to know him. Unless Inuyasha was around, then the bickering would begin and their constant fighting got on her nerves.

He smiled kindheartedly at her, losing his overwhelming presence. "Anytime."

She opened her locker as Kouga leaned on the locker next to hers, eyeing Kagome the entire time with a secretive smile she was not sure she liked so much on his face.

"So where's Inu-trash?" Kouga inquired as Kagome switched the books in her arms for the books in her locker.

"Inuyasha," she corrected him automatically while closing her locker, "And I don't know where." Kagome turned to face him. "Why?"

The wicked smile on his face grew. "Just wondering."

He moved closer but Kagome took no notice to his advances. What she did notice was the wound the left side of his forehead. Timidly, she raised a hand to touch the wound lightly.

"Where did you get this?"

Kouga grinned widely. "My wolves got attacked the other night, probably by some of Naraku's goons. But they were no match for my wolves."

"Acting a little cocky, don't you think?" Kagome commented.

"Not when it's true."

Kagome rolled her eyes, but was feeling troubled. Since Naraku could not get to her as of yet, he was sending demons after her friends and allies instead. She was sure Kouga and his wolves could handle themselves, but she still did not like the idea of them getting attacked because of her. Everything seemed to happen because of her.

Kouga reached a hand out and tilted her head upward, sensing her uneasiness while his other hand was sneaking its way around her waist. Kagome first instinct was to slap him, but her arms were full with books and she did not want to offend him. She still needed him as a ally. Kagome needed all the help she could get.

He was about to speak when Kagome was pulled backward and Inuyasha stepped in front of her.

"Want me to rough him up a little bit?" Inuyasha inquired, glancing back at Kagome for a second.

Kagome groaned inwardly. They would begin bickering now and if they weren't stopped, it would turn into an all-out fight. Her good mood was quickly vanishing.

"Become her loyal servant dog now? How cute," Kouga commented sarcastically though he looked angrily at Inuyasha. He took Kagome hand and brought her to him.

"Listen, wolf-turd—" Inuyasha started, taking a threatening step forward. He took Kagome from Kouga.

She just kept back and forth between them. What was she, a yo-yo? _Next they'll have me each by an arm and start pulling until I split in half, _Kagome thought dryly.

"Look, Dumb and Dumber, I'm not in the mood to listen to you fight so I'll just be going now." 

Ignoring the stupefied looks the two demon-boys gave her, she shifted the books in one arm to the other and began walking away from both of them.

"Kagome, wait," she heard Inuyasha call from behind her.

"I'm the dumb one, right?" he inquired stepping in front of her, blocking Kagome's way.

"What?" she asked while stopping, irritated.

"He's the Dumber, right?"

She starred at him incredulously for a moment then shook her head and walked past him, thinking, o_h my God, I'm surrounded by idiots_.

"Look, Kagome… Sorry," Inuyasha said. There he went again, apologizing when he did not even know what he was apologizing for.

She sighed and turned around, now feeling bad for snapping at him. "Don't apologize, I'm just tired is all." She gave him a small smile.

He looked at her suspiciously. "You didn't go last night, did you?"

"Well, I'm in one piece, so what do you think?" she questioned.

Relief went through his face. "Good."

She smiled cunningly and moved toward him. "Worried about me, were you?"

He crossed his arms and looked away. "Feh, like I'd be worried about you." He glanced at Kagome to see her still slowly approaching him. "Well… maybe a little. But if you didn't do such stupid things all the time, then I wouldn't have to—"

Kagome let her books drop to the floor so she could use her arms for more useful things—like wrapping them around her neck. She brought her lips up to gently brush against his, then moved her head back. However, Inuyasha put his hand on the back of her neck, forcing her up for another kiss, which she eagerly returned.

His arms slid around her, his hands gripping her waist as he deepened the kiss. She melted into him as his tongue stroked hers, her hands moving up to tangle in his silky hair.

That's, of course, when the bell rang.

Kagome's eyes shot open and she removed Inuyasha's hands from her as she stepped back. Her lips were last to leave him and when they did he let out a soft protest. He opened somewhat unfocused golden eyes.

"I gotta go. I'm late for class."

"Skip class," he told her, his arms snaking around her waist once again, "it's not like you haven't done it before."

The hallway became deserted as the late people scampered off to their classes. He brought his lips down to her neck, trailing moist kisses up and down her neck.

"Yes, and that's why I can't now," she informed him, though she was pretty sure he was not really listen, concentrated on other matters. "I got in trouble last time—ahhh!"

She let out a soft gasp as a hot, searing tongue dragged across her skin. Gently, he used his teeth to nibble at her neck.

"You're not making this any easier," she muttered to him, though she was not really complaining.

…but she really did have to go to class. Stupid school.

Kagome put a hand to his chest and pushed him away. He moved back from her reluctantly and helped her collect the books that had been forgotten on the floor.

"Thanks," she told him.

Kagome then made the mistake of looking up, where she met golden eyes filled with heat. "I'll—I'll see you later," she said, faltering a little.

He nodded and she spun around, heading quickly toward her class that she was already late for.

* * *

Kagome began her walk home with Ginta at her heels. With Sango and Miroku not around and her tendency to get almost captured when she walked somewhere alone, Ginta was escorting her home. 

"You know you don't have to do this," she told him, going through the conversation that had almost everyday.

"Yes, but I want to," Ginta responded automatically, knowing the dialogue by heart by now, "it's my job to keep you safe from Naraku anyway."

Naraku. She heard the name so often, yet had no face to put together with the name in her mind. The day she did have one though, would probably not be a good day for her.

She continued walking, when suddenly one second she's on the ground, the next second she's being carried in someone's arms. Kagome squealed in surprise, her heart racing, only to look up and see Inuyasha.

"Thank you," Inuyasha told Ginta with a mischievous grin for the second he was on the ground, then he leapt up and was soaring through the air with Kagome in his arms.

"What do you mean 'thank you'! I'm not a package!" Kagome screeched at him while hearing Ginta exclaim of surprise.

Ginta was not too worried though because he knew Inuyasha was on their side, as much as Kouga distrusted and disliked the hanyou.

"I didn't say you could carry me away! Put me down!" she commanded of him.

He ignored her as he continued leaping through the air, bringing her toward the nearby city.

For more emphasis she hit his arms with every word as she said again, "Put-me-down!"

He landed on a roof and glared at her. Then abruptly, he dropped her, letting her fall to the floor with a small "oomph".

While rubbing her thigh that had hit the ground roughly, she glared at him.

"Meany."

"What? You told me to put you down," he told her, irritated.

"I meant put me down _nicely_," she informed him.

"Be more specific next time," he said, as he took her arm and helped her up. "Now where were we?" he asked deviously with a look in his eyes that sent shivers down her spine.

"Ah, right about here…" he said, as he lowered his face to her neck.

"Hey, Inuyasha! You can't just—" she began, but he did not hear her or did not care. She was guessing on the latter.

He kissed his way up to her ear where he began to nibble playfully on her ear.

"Inuyasha, I have to meet Miroku soon," she mumbled.

He growled softly as he moved back so he could look into her face.

"He's bringing me to Kaede and Midoriko's," she explained, "so I don't have to time to… dawdle."

"Fine, I'll bring you to your precious Miroku," he told her, crossing his arms.

"You know it's nothing like that," she told him with a frown. Was that jealousy in his tone? How did he manage to change moods so quickly, anyway?

"Feh."

She sighed. "You're a stubborn mule, you know that?"

"Mule? I'm not—" he started, but stopped when she kicked him in the leg.

"Down," she said.

Grumbling some incomprehensible words that she suspected were none too nice, he crouched down and she climbed onto his back.

"Good, Inuyasha," she said while patting his head, as though he were a pet dog that had just performed a trick.

"You're lucky I don't throw you off while you're getting a free ride," Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome could just imagine herself going 'splat' all over the pavement below. She tighten her grip on Inuyasha. He smirked.

It was quiet for a while, until Kagome began speaking again, wanting to break the silence.

"Can you jump over oceans too with that leap of yours?" He looked over his shoulder at her, giving her an odd look. "What? Just asking. If you were able we could go spend the afternoon in Rome… then to Paris for the night…and back before anyone knows the difference. It would been fun."

"Did I ever tell you how strange you are?"

"No."

"Well, then I should have," he informed her.

"Well, then I'm offended," she teased, mimicking his tone.

He landed in front of Miroku's home. "Now off," he told her.

"How rude," she told him, getting off and crossing her arms. She bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"Yeah, well, too bad," he told her then leapt away.

Kagome watched him disappear with a small frown on her face. She had only been teasing. He did know that, right?

She shook her head, leaving the thoughts for further speculation later. Now she had to train for hours, probably get nowhere from it to, then finally she'd be able to sleep.

Sleep was the only thing she could look forward to.

* * *

Kagome twitched as she heard someone banging on her door. She turned her head to look at her alarm clock. Nine in the morning. 

She groaned. "Come back in three hours."

"Kagome, phone," she heard her brother's muffled voice coming through the door.

With a heavy sigh, she threw off the comforter and lay staring at the ceiling for a split second. Then she was up, trudging over to the door, throwing it open.

Souta jumped back when he saw his sister. "You look like Frankenstein," he commented, looking at her disarrayed hair.

Her eyes narrowed, though they were hardly open to begin with, thick with sleep. "I hate you," she growled as she snatched the phone from his hand.

She closed the door before he could think of something more to say to annoy her. Yawning, she put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she inquired.

Kagome paused in motioned as she listened, then responded, "Yeah, sure. I'm free today. What time? Alright. Bye."

Well, there went the idea of sleeping in. She had to be at Rin's at one to watch two wide-awake, probably hyper seven-year-olds.

Oh, the joy.

* * *

Kagome sat on the park swing, laughing as she watched Rin and Shippo run through the park. It had been a nice day out and instead of being cooped up inside all day, she had asked Rin's parents if she could bring them to the park. They had told her it was okay, so here they were now. 

It was a small park and it was void of all other people, so Shippo ran freely around his true demon form. It helped him anyway, since he was smaller than his illusion self and he was harder to tag when he was smaller.

Half her mind was focused on watching them, while the other half was thinking her complicated life. Kagome had blown off getting trained by the priestesses that day, only because they had been meeting and working for two weeks now and she deserved one day of break.

She wanted to be able to keep the demons that hunted her at bay on her own, but she did need to breathe once and awhile also. Kagome needed the day of rest, to just relax in the nice warm sun in the park, surrounded by children's laughter.

If only she could get this Naraku to stop trying to go after her…. Fat chance of that.

"Shippo…" Kagome began, "have you ever heard of a demon named… Naraku."

Shippo stopped so suddenly that Rin, who had been chasing him, ran full force right into his back. His eyes were wide as he turned to her and he had a faint deer-caught-in-the-headlights look to him.

"He's a bad, bad man, Kagome," Shippo told her as he walked closer to her. Rin, curiously, followed.

"He isn't a man at all," Kagome said softly.

"You know what I mean," he told her as he sat on the swing next to her. He looked down at the ground, while his little fox feet kicked slowly in the air. He continued, "he… he once…. My parents opposed him once and then… he attacked. My parents were hurt pretty badly… but… he killed a close friend of my parents as a warning. My family's been neutral ever since."

Kagome found herself gasping softly. "Shippo, I'm sorry…."

He shrugged. "It wasn't anyone I knew. And I was too little to remember much, but…. He likes to torture people, to see them in pain. He goes after loved ones to break a person's spirit. Then they are easy to manipulate."

Kagome was very silent, as were the two children. The only sounded to be heard was the bird's chirping and the creak as the swings moved gently back a forth, pushed by the wind.

"Kagome… how did you know about demons?" Shippo asked suddenly. "I know you're not one… so how did you know?"

"…well, Inuyasha…" she started but drifted off.

"That's not just it, is it?" Rin said quietly.

Why were children so perceptive?

"I…" she began, but never did have a chance to finish.

It was getting late in the day and shadows were cast all over the park from the trees nearby, but there was one shadow in particular that she saw that was bothering her. Since when did shadows move?

Kagome was then reminded of the shadow that had been there that night with Inuyasha on the roof. Could it be…?

"Kagome?" Rin asked nervously, sensing the tension in the air.

Abruptly, Kagome got up and she saw Shippo stiffen beside her. He, too, sensed it.

"Get up," she told the two. They did so. "And don't make a sound," she said softly when Rin inhaled to speak.

The shadow, which had been moving swiftly toward them, suddenly stopped. Shippo jumped to her shoulder, while Kagome grabbed Rin's hand, bring her to her, and picked her up. She edged slowly over to the jungle gym, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The black shadow quivered and began inching toward them. She set Rin down and commanded, "climb."

Shippo jumped from her shoulder onto the bars of the jungle gym and both began climbing as high as they could. They reached the platform and ran over a small, shaky, wooden bridge to the steps that led higher, to the slide.

The shadow was still after the kids, since they were moving and Kagome was standing absolutely still. It reached the edge of the stairs and began to go upward.

Kagome stomped her feet. "Over here," she said, knowing it would not hear her, but it might have been able to sense the vibrations of her voice. She was not exactly an expert on evil demon shadows that chased people. Go figure.

It quivered once again, as though deciding which way to go. It went closer to the children, and it brushed against Shippo's foot, which he immediately yanked away. Then it raced for Kagome, sensing her movement. Kagome ran the other way, not sure where to go. Maybe she should have thought this through a little more.

"Kago—!" Rin cried, but was stopped when Shippo clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling the rest of her cry.

The shadow was right on her heels, following her every move perfectly. She spotted the monkey bars and quickly headed for them. Just when the shadow was about to catch her, Kagome jumped up, grabbing the bar so that the thing missed her.

She used the rest of the monkey bars to get over to the rest of the playground equipment, as the demon shadow paused, searching for the lost prey.

Kagome, as quietly as she could, made her way to the two children, where both hugged her.

"What is that?" Rin whispered.

"I don't know," Kagome said truthfully.

Kagome watched the two children as they watched the shadow begin squirming away.

"…but I don't think I should be watching you two anymore," Kagome told them.

"What! Why?" Rin cried in outrage.

Kagome put her hands on each one of their mouths as the shadow stopped and they continued to make muffled protests. It, however, finally disappeared into the other shadows of the trees.

"Because my life's too dangerous," Kagome told them, "and I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's not too dangerous!" Shippo told her.

She smiled, while shaking her head. They knew nothing of her life, they only wanted her to stay.

"Yeah, and we won't get hurt!" Rin told her, while hugging her as tightly as she could. "We can take care of ourselves! And Shippo could use some of his fox tricks if we ever were in trouble. We could help you!"

Kagome smiled sadly and hugged them both tightly. "I wish you could."

Her eyes flew to where the shadow had disappeared.

"I really do."

* * *

Kagome waved goodbye to Rin's parents who had driven her home right before she closed the door, locking it behind her. It had been opened when she got there, but she just supposed her mom had left it open for her like she sometimes did after baby-sitting. 

Climbing the stairs, she sighed heavily. Kagome had told Rin's parents that she could not baby-sit for her anymore. She had told them she had other "obligation". Rin had cried while she did. First she had begged Kagome not to go, then she began screaming. Rin told Kagome how much she hated her. She'd screamed it over and over, the words still echoing in Kagome's head. She'd never forgive her, or so Rin had said. Kagome did not blame her. She was a kid and that was the only way she knew how to react

Kagome took in a long, shaky breath. It was too late now to take back what she said. Her life was too dangerous anyway. Everyone she knew, had ever talked to could be in danger because of her. She could not risk putting to innocent children at risk too.

Fighting back another yawn, Kagome lazily opened the door to her room and walked into the darkness. Normally the darkness did not bother her, but today she had a bad feeling as though something was lurking in the dark. That's when she heard the voice.

"Don't make a sound," the feminine voice said through the darkness. "Close the door."

Kagome froze in her place. Then, grudgingly, closed the door with a soft click while wondering in her mind if she should scream or not. She decided against it. Whatever was in her room could probably killed her before she anyone could come to help her and even if they did get there in time, everyone that was in hearing range was too fragile to help her.

Kagome reached for the light switch, but before she could use it, the voice snapped, "don't turn on the light."

"Then how am I suppose to see where I'm going?" Kagome asked annoyed, though thought, _or see you._

The female turned on a small nightlight in arms reach, revealing a demoness sitting in one of her chairs. Black hair was up in a bun-like way with a small white feather sticking slightly out from the bun. Her red eyes had an eerie glow in the nearly dark room and were fixated on Kagome, giving her an uncomfortable feeling. She had a tight dress on that emphasized her every curve and a low décolletage meant to taunt men. Kagome could only imagine if Miroku were there. His eyes would have fallen right out of their sockets.

Kagome almost immediately recognized her as the demoness who had given her that note, only because she remembered those eyes.

"Who are you?" Kagome questioned.

A small, wicked smile appeared on her face. "Does it really matter, Kagome?"

"I just think it's unfair for you to know my name and me not to know yours," Kagome said stubbornly.

"Unfair? _Unfair?_" The demoness laughed harshly. "This entire world is unfair. Deal with it."

_Fine, be that way,_ Kagome thought, annoyed. "How did you find out where I lived?"

"It wasn't that hard. You might be able to control your powers some, but I could still feel them."

_Oh, that is just great,_ Kagome thought_, I'm still like a homing beacon for demons._

"What are you doing here?" she asked, "is it because I didn't show up?" 

The demoness responded nonchalantly. "Oh, I didn't expect you to. Going somewhere alone with a strange demon? You would have truly been an idiot if you had done _that_."

Kagome nearly fell. She really almost did. All that consideration for nothing? By the way she talked, the demoness would not have even been there. If Kagome had gone, she would have waited forever for no one and probably would have been kidnapped by some wacko, if not another demon, on the way home.

"No, why I'm here now has to do with Naraku," she mentioned.

"Naraku?" Kagome said nervously, feeling her heartbeat speed up and she took a small step backward. She mentally scolded herself for the step backward, but it was too late to take it back now.

Seeing Kagome take a step back uneasily, the demoness laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not here to harm you." She paused there for a second, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to think over what she was going to say next. Who knew?

She took the time though to crossed her legs, making the dress rise higher unconsciously, another movement that would have Miroku dazed for hours at a time. However, Kagome was not male and only found the movement annoying.

"Quite the opposite actually," she began as she pushed a piece of stray black hair out of her face. "You see, I don't want the world like Naraku wants it. I'm like Kouga, I like this world. It's full of such wonderful things. For instance, ignorant, weak humans. If Naraku's plan succeeds, all cities and towns will be destroyed and the earth's land will be leveled. Then objects that your society holds so dear to them, like televisions and computers won't exist anymore. You won't be able to use them with no power lines and the demons would never let you rebuild them."

"I… I can do all that?" Kagome said in a mere whisper.

"You have the ability to destroy all that, but you also have the ability to keep it. I'd rather help you," the demoness told her.

"Why? Why would you…" her voice trailed off.

"I've worked for Naraku for a couple of hundred years now. I know some of his plans and I know that what he has in store with the power you have is not going to be good." Kagura told her, ignoring whatever she was going to say.

Kagome crossed her arms. "Why should I believe you, believe anything you say?"

"You don't have a choice. You're desperate for allies, because you could die easily at Naraku's hands. Or if he won't kill you, he can kill those you care for. It's always been the human's weakness." The demoness said the last line with certain disgust. "You need all the help you can get."

Her words were true. Kagome needed the help and although she was not sure she could trust the demoness, she might have some valuable information if she worked so closely with Naraku. Kagome needed that information.

The demoness raised a hand up to her hair and removed the white feather and began twirling it lazily in her hand. "So what do you say, Kagome?"

"Do I have time to think it over?" Kagome questioned.

The demoness inhaled sharply. "Getting here wasn't exactly easy, you know," she informed the girl in an annoyed fashion, "I can't be seen or it'll be my head on the line. I do wish to be your ally, but it can't be revealed as so until the time is right. I still have to fool Naraku because he could kill _me_ easily."

It only made Kagome more suspicious. Her words made it seem more like a scam then her actually wanting to be an ally.

The demoness stood up and walked over until she stood only a few feet in front of Kagome. "What is your answer?"

What if she truly wanted to be her ally and she said no? Then would she be angry and go back to Naraku's side? If it was not a scam and she said yes, she gained an ally. If it was and she said yes, she neither gained nor lost anything. So the answer was simple.

"Alright," Kagome said cautiously.

She smiled deviously. "Good." She handed Kagome the feather. "A token to remember me by. I won't always be around, but if I have any useful information, you'll be seeing me."

She then turned and went toward the door. Just as her hand was on the doorknob, she half-turned her face to Kagome. "By the way, It's Kagura."

Kagura then left the room by doorway, too dignified, Kagome supposed, to use the window as Inuyasha always did.

So she had a new ally, just like that. Aside from her friends she had a seductress and wolves, which was not many compared to the number of demons Naraku probably had, but it would have to do.

Nonetheless, one thought kept going through her mind as she readied herself for bed that night.

Could she trust Kagura?

But Kagura was right about one thing. She was not sure she had a choice in the matter.

* * *

The shadow wrapped around Naraku's arm reaching up to almost his shoulder. It was neither hot nor cold, yet it had substance as it wrapped around him. It did not talk, but by the touch, Naraku knew all it had seen, or rather felt, since it did not have eyes. 

He frowned, annoyed that the shadow had not found the girl. It had found someone, but not the human girl. It should have been easy to find the human. Then again, it should have been easy to kidnap her with the weakest of demons. Things were not working out according to plan.

Naraku closed his hand tightly around the shadow. It struggled for a few moment, screaming silently, then it disappeared complete into his fist.

He would have to take harsher actions.

The doors to Naraku's chambers were slammed open. Naraku watched it slight amusement as Yukio stormed into the room.

"You told me I could handle Kouga!" he growled.

Naraku eyed the intolerant wolf. "Be patient. I knew that the demon I sent would be no match for the idiot wolves of his pack. It was merely a distraction. We don't want anyone to get too suspicious if we stay away for too long. Besides, I don't want to use you until I absolutely have to."

"Just as long as I'm the one to kill him, I don't mind waiting," Yukio said, though his body language spoke differently, "just make sure none of your demons kill him in the meantime."

Naraku raised an eyebrow. "Giving me orders now?"

"No, my lord," he said through gritted teeth. No matter where he went, he was never on top. He'd always be somebody's lackey. He _hated_ it.

"You're lucky I don't punish _you_ for not only not capturing the girl, but also putting her on the brink of death. Do you know what would happen if she died?" he asked furiously, then threatened, "do something like that again and you won't be alive to take Kouga on. _Do you understand_?"

"Yes, my lord," he said, going down on one knee before the other demon, as much as he hated to. But Naraku was not someone Yukio wanted to be angry with him.

"Now who was this demon that interfered?" Naraku inquired.

"A hanyou, actually," Yukio corrected with great humility. How could he have been beaten by a mere half-demon? "I didn't catch his name."

"A hanyou?" Naraku asked with an eyebrow raised. _No, it couldn't be him…_

_

* * *

_

"Mom, I'm home!" Kagome called as she entered the house, shrugging off the bag on her shoulder. She had just gotten back from the priestesses' home and she was exhausted.

She received no answer.

"Mom?" she called once again.

Again, all was silent but she shrugged it off. Her mom must have taken Souta to the movies or something like that. 

Kagome took off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack, along with her gloves. It was late November and things were starting to get very chilly, making a heavy winter coat necessary.

As she hung up her coat she noticed a white envelope on the floor next to the door. She guessed someone must have slipped it under the door. Curiously, Kagome picked it up, noticing her name printed neatly on the front by no handwriting that she recognized.

She opened it nicely, not wanting to rip the note inside.

However, there was not a note inside. There was a picture. And what a picture it was.

Kagome's face grew pale as the picture dropped from her hand and drifted slowly to the floor. She not too soon after followed it.


	10. Chapter 10: Kidnapped

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

* * *

**__**

In a World of Demons

Chapter 10: Kidnapped

* * *

Kagome's knees felt weak as she gazed at the picture and as she let it drop to the floor, her legs deciding to no longer carry her weight. Maybe it was because she had trained that day until exhaustion, or maybe from the shock, she did not know which. 

She did fall to her hands and knees on the floor, but she did not faint. No, she was too dignified for that.

"No… no," she whispered as she felt the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

She focused on her breathing, reminding herself to keep her breathing even and steady, but she could not help it from going erratic at the moment. Her fingernails dug into the carpet and she closed her eyes, squeezing out the tears that came. Some fell silently to a floor, but a few made a soft splat sound as they hit the picture below her.

No…. No, it was not possible. He could not have known… how did he know? This was exactly what she was trying to avoid.

Kagome's gaze fell to the picture once more, but it was flipped over so that the horror of the picture could no longer be seen. What she did see was a message on the back.

Against the black of the Polaroid picture, a message, slightly smudged by her tears, was written in red. Blood red.

She read it quickly the first time, then over and over again until the message was memorized in her mind. She did not want to believe it, did not want to see the picture on the other side again because if she did it, it was not real. She could pretend it was not real. That it was all just a joke her mind was playing on her or a dream she could soon wake up from.

…But she could not wait to wake up from the horrible nightmares of her life. It was time to take action, not go around crying about how difficult life had become.

Wanting to crumble the picture in her fist, Kagome refrained herself from doing so. She wanted to take the picture, destroy it by shredding it into a million tiny pieces, but at the same time she did not want to touch the evil thing. Still, she might need it later on.

Touching the picture only as much as need to pick it up, Kagome got up from the ground and grabbed her coat. She shoved the picture in her coat pocket with one hand, while she used the other to furiously wipe away her tears.

The door opened noisily behind her and Kagome spun around. Her mother came in, her arms full of groceries, followed by Souta, his arms equally full.

The house had been eerily silent before, but it was now filled with everyday noises. The creak of the door opening, the jangling of keys, the rustle of the grocery bags, and the teasing of a mother to her child.

"Kagome," her mom said, surprised to see her daughter just standing there, staring at them blankly. She noticed her eyes were moist. "Is something wrong?"

"I've got to go," she told her mother hurriedly and passed her to get through the door without so much as another glance.

Her mother watched Kagome leave with worried-filled eyes, but Kagome did not notice.

"What's her problem?" Souta asked as he took a bite out of the apple he just snagged out of the grocery bag.

But their mother only shook her head, not knowing what to think of her daughter's odd behavior, as she closed the front door.

* * *

Someone was knocking on Sango's door, very insistently at that. Well, that and ringing the doorbell, or doing both at the same time, which the person had taken up now. Sango was only surprised that the door had not fallen off with the force they were hitting it with. If it was a salesman outside, there would be hell to pay. 

"All right, all right, I'm coming!" Sango yelled at whomever was on the other side of the door.

Taking the last steps to the door she opened it, only to be surprised by who was on the other side.

"Kagome," she said, taken aback while literally taking a step backward.

Her face held many emotions, some of which were grief and anger. Her brown eyes looked tired, more so than they did when they had come back from Kaede and Midoriko's not even a half-hour ago.

"Suit up," Kagome told her demon slaying friend, "we have a demon to fight."

* * *

She was never one to encourage or enjoy killing, but, boy, did she want to do Naraku in right then. He had crossed a very dangerous line. Come after her all he wanted, she was fine with her, but to go after an innocent just to toy with her…. He was a bad, bad man. 

Kagome winced when she thought the last sentence, bringing back now painful memories.

"Kagome, will you tell me what this is all about?" Sango asked, trying to keep up with her friend's fast pace.

Sango might have been injured badly not too long ago, but she was fine now, completely healed. Still, Kagome was going at a pace that was hard to keep up with. What had happened to annoy her to such an extent that she suggested violence? She usually hated it.

"I'll tell you just as soon as we get Miroku," Kagome informed her, speeding up even more.

Sango swallowed a groan and kept Kagome's pace, nearly having to jog to stay beside her. Kirara walked next to Kagome easily, though looked up at the girl with a worried glance. She rubbed against Kagome's legs to try and sooth her nerves. Kagome looked down and gave her a small smile, even though she was still not in the best of moods.

Soon, to Sango's relief, they reached Miroku's house. She was also extremely curious as to what Kagome was so riled out about.

Kagome reached his door first and continued the unrelenting banging on the door she had started on Sango's front door. Sango, reaching the frantic girl, grabbed her arm before she could hit the door once again and hit Miroku, who had just opened it.

"Remind me to keep you away from doors," Sango muttered.

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Ah, what do I owe the pleasure after just leaving you two a half-hour ago?" he asked. "Couldn't get enough of me?"

"You wish," Sango said.

Kagome ignored both of them. "Let us inside," she told Miroku, "we have to talk."

Seeing the seriousness in her face and in her tone, Miroku let the smile that had come onto his face drop and opened the door wider to let the two of them in.

By the time Miroku closed the door behind them, Kagome was already on her way to Miroku's room upstairs with Kirara on her heels. Sango and Miroku exchanged a glance and followed their charge.

Once they were all in Miroku's room, Sango sat on the bed with Kirara on her lap while Miroku leaned against the wall as they watched Kagome pace back and forth in the room. Kagome clutched her heart necklace in her fist as her mind ran a mile a minute.

"Now, Kagome, are you going to tell us what's going on?" Sango asked, a bad feeling growing inside her.

Kagome glanced at Sango with a blank expression, forgetting for a second that anyone else was in the room. She had been so caught up in her thoughts about Naraku and….

Kagome stuck her hand in her coat pocket, taking out what looked like a picture from a Polaroid, Sango identified, and tossed it across the room at her. Sango caught it shakily and the second she did, Kirara began growling at the picture and jumped off the bed to scramble over to Kagome.

Puzzled at what had frightened the cat youkai, Sango looked down at the picture in her hand. Kagome saw her face drain of blood right before her eyes.

"Oh my God…" Sango said. She put the picture down and backed away as though there was something truly evil on the bed. She looked up to meet Kagome's eyes. "Kagome, I'm sorry…" she said, for lack of anything better to say.

By this time Miroku was way too curious to not know what the picture was, even though it brought such a horrible reaction out of both females. Even the demonic cat, did not like the picture and she had not even seen it.

The scene in the picture was too much for even Miroku. Chains were wrapped around all four legs, stained partially with what looked like a brown substance. To the untrained eye it would only look like rust, but Miroku knew it for what it really was, dried blood. And it was everywhere, both old and freshly taken from the body. It covered the floor, his skin, and his clothes. The wounds inflicted on the skin were easy to see and his head lolled to the side as if unconscious or… worse. But what got him the most were the chains. Small chains for a small person, made to fit the tiny wrist and ankles of the child kitsune. Chains just big enough to hold the innocent child.

"The same thing just keeps going through my mind over and over again," Kagome told them, breaking the hush that had swept through the room, while looking out the window, "how did he know? He's never seen me with Shippo before. I've only met him a few weeks ago, at that. So how could he have found out?"

"That's… the kitsune you told us about?" Sango asked hesitantly. She picked up Kirara, holding her closely to her.

Kagome nodded her head mutely. "I was just with him yesterday too…" she started as memories of the day of the park came flying back to her.

Her mind and body froze when she remembered something in particular.

It went closer to the children and brushed against Shippo's foot, which he immediately yanked away.

"Oh, no…" she whispered to herself.

…brushed against Shippo's foot…

"What?" Miroku inquired, "what is it Kagome?"

"The shadow… it recognizes by touch…."

"What? What shadow? Kagome, you're not making any sense," Sango commented, looking at her with worried etched into her face.

"There was a demon shadow, while I was watching Rin and Shippo. It was chasing me, but while it was, it touched Shippo's foot. It must have gone back to whoever commands it and…." Kagome's voice trailed off, but the meaning was clear.

Miroku warily flipped over the picture, only to see the message written on the back in blood.

"'Come if you want the kitsune to live. Bring friends if you wish it, but keep the priestesses out of this. N.,'" Miroku read, leaving out the address under it. He looked up. "N?"

"Naraku," all three chorused at the same time, all with their own level of disgust.

"I want to get Shippo back," she informed them, "as quickly as possible. But I can't do it on my own. So what do you say?"

"I'm in," Sango declared.

"That's not the only reason, is it, Kagome?" Miroku speculated, "you want to see Naraku."

She met his eyes. "I won't lie. yes, that's part of it. But I mostly want to get Shippo back. It's not his fault, he shouldn't be treated like that. He was an _innocent_." She spoke the last part a little bit harshly. "And Naraku just… he took him and harmed him… to get to me." Her eyes flashed angrily. "We _will_ get Shippo back."

"Hey, I was only wondering. I'll fight," Miroku stated.

Kagome offered him a small smile, the only thing she could currently manage. Timidly, Miroku handed her the picture and Kagome took it after a moments hesitation. Without even so much as a glance, she stuffed it into her pocket once again.

"This… picture was delivered right to my house," she told them, "not to mention Kagura was sitting in my room yesterday when I got home."

Kagome had told them about Kagura little visit and her proposition. They trusted her less than Kagome did, if that was even possible.

Sango gave her a questioning look, so she continued. "Miroku… is there a way you can put up a barrier around my house to keep out demons? I can't do much but… I want to protect my family as much as I can."

Miroku had a hand to his chin as he considered. "Actually… there might be a spell I can use. If there is, it would be wise to put a spell on each of our homes."

"Would it allow certain demons in?" Kagome asked, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Why?" Sango asked curiously.

"Well, for our allies. Like… Inuyasha and Kouga," Kagome told them, saying the last part quickly.

Miroku frowned as he pondered. "I'm sure it's possible."

"Good," she said, "now let's suit up and go."

"That would be a good plan if we had any weapons," Miroku said dryly, glancing at the demon slayer.

"Midoriko took our weapons," Sango explained, "after we got hurt, she told us not to go fighting any demons on our own for awhile and for some reason…" she glanced at Miroku, "…she didn't trust us, so she took our weapons from us. We have a few things here… but she has our better weapons."

Kagome had a bad feeling now. Besides the fact that Naraku had told her not to get the priestesses involved, she had wanted to go without the priestesses' knowing because she was more than positive that they'd do their best to stop her. She would not put it past Midoriko to lock her in a room until the night was over and she could no longer make it to the meeting. But she could not just sit around and twiddle her thumbs. There was a life on the line. She was sure if she did not go, Shippo would not live to see the morning.

Sango looked to Miroku. "What time are we to 'meet' Naraku?"

"Midnight…. We have six hours, minus two getting to the priestesses' and back again," Miroku concluded.

"Four hours," Sango said, "then there's time to kill."

"Let's go to Kaede's now," Kagome told them, "I have a feeling we'll have to do a little convincing."

"Yeah, a little," Sango said sarcastically.

* * *

Kagome slept in the car the entire way there, trying to rebuild her energy. Everyday she went to train and everyday she came back exhausted. Now she would need all the energy she could get back before midnight. 

By the time they got there the sun had already set a long time before and there was no moon that night, making it difficult not to trip as they walked from the car to the house.

Kaede had opened the door before they could even reach to knock on it.

"Back so soon?" Kaede asked, while in the background they heard Midoriko say at the same time, "didn't we get rid of them already?"

They stepped into the house while Kaede smiled and said, "don't mind her. She's just tired."

Kagome smiled. "Well, we just have need to get a few things and then we'll be on our way."

"What type of things?" Midoriko inquired suspiciously.

There was no way she could convince them to give them the weapons without some sort of explanation and the only thing she could think to tell her was the truth. So the priestesses stayed quiet as Kagome explained most of what had happened, taking in all that she said.

"That's all very interesting," Midoriko commented, "but you're not going anywhere."

"What?" both Kagome and Sango exclaimed. Miroku, who had been expecting this, kept quiet and watched the conversation unfold.

"You are not to go seeking trouble. You should not go," Kaede told her.

"That won't work," Sango muttered, "she doesn't listen to reason."

Kagome gave her a glare, but then turned her attention back to Kaede. "I'm going," she said stubbornly. "I don't want to see anyone hurt because of me."

"And I'm telling you, it's a trap. You show up and you're playing right into their hands." Midoriko said, taking a step forward toward the miko-in-training.

"Well, I have to do something. I can't just leave him. You don't get it, do you? He dies if I don't go," Kagome informed them as she too took a defiant step up.

"We do understand," Kaede responded, making Kagome turn to look at her. If they understood, why weren't they letting her go?

"And that's why we can't let you go," Midoriko concluded.

Kagome nearly growled in frustration. Just the thought that she almost had made her think she was hanging around Inuyasha too much.

"So you'll let an innocent _child_ die," Kagome said slowly so that she would not yell. Her hand closed around her necklace angrily, a habit she could never get herself out of. She considered whipping out the picture and shoving it into their faces for a sympathy attempt, but decided against it. She'd only show it if she had to.

"When it's you, yes," she began.

"Midoriko," Kaede snapped, "that's enough."

She was angry at Midoriko comment, but her face held surprise. She had never seen Kaede mad or snap at anyone before. Her surprise, however, did not last long as anger found its way back.

"I understand perfectly now. But I will _not_ sit around when someone is being harmed on my account."

She stormed out of the room, heading toward the room they held their weapons. Whether they wanted her to or not, she was going. There was no way they could keep her from going. Kagome only wondered if Sango and Miroku would defy the two to go with Kagome. She could not be sure what they would decide.

Kaede followed the girl out of the room, trailed by the rest. "You are not ready, child," Kaede stated.

Kagome searched through the room, only phased for a moment after seeing the extensive amount of weapons they had. She picked up a sword, gulped, and put it back. Not only would she probably wind up hurting herself since she had no idea how to use one, she was not sure she wanted to kill anything with one.

Ignoring some of the more complex weapons, she continued to search. He'd never mentioned anything about not bring weapons. She may not be the smartest person, but she at least was not stupid enough to go unarmed to a meeting with this Naraku demon.

Something was calling out to her in the room, a pulsation of power tugging her toward it. She paused in motion for a moment. There, in the corner. Kagome cautiously went over and picked up a bow and arrows. Perfect.

"I'll be just fine," she told them while examining the weapon in her hands.

"Did you not hear, Kaede? You're not strong enough yet! If you try to use your powers you'll knock yourself unconscious like you did last time or worse. And if you don't use your powers, then you're easy prey. It's a lose-lose situation, and guess what?" Everyone paused to look at her. "You're going to lose!"

"I don't have time to sit here and argue. Now let—" Kagome declared, but was cut off.

Kaede handed her a crossbow. "Take this. It's easily hidden under your jacket and you can use it in an emergency."

Kagome stopped abruptly, shocked. "You're… letting me go? No more arguing?"

Kaede handed her the crossbow and Kagome took it, still a little stunned. She looked down at it, while examining it like she had the bow. It was pretty small, as long as her arm from the edge of her fingertips to her elbow. Kaede also handed her a few arrows made especially for the small crossbow, that were slightly smaller then the entirety of it.

"Would it change your mind?"

She found herself half-smiling. "No."

Kaede helped her out of her jacket and helped strap the crossbow and the arrows onto her back. This way it was concealed by her large jacket and if she needed it, she only needed to slip the jacket slightly off and reach a hand over her shoulder to grab it and an arrow.

"Then what would be the point?"

Kagome put her jacket back on over the weapon, then took the bow and arrows in her hand. She'd only use the crossbow if she had to.

Midoriko stared at Kaede incredulously. "You can't be serious—" She stopped, knowing none of them were listening to her. "Look, if you're going to go and there is no way to stop you, then we're coming with you."

"No," Kagome said simply, "you can't. If you do, they won't show up and then Shippo…."

Kaede nodded and Kagome was relieved. They would still let her go.

"And I thought the hanyou was a handful," the younger priestess grumbled.

Kagome paused. That was right, Inuyasha. She supposed she should go and find him. She could use his help if things got rough, but she did not know where to find him. He always found her, not the other way around. Maybe she could start with that one roof, if she could find a way to get on it….

"Let's go. We still have to find Inuyasha," Kagome informed Sango and Miroku, who had stayed quiet as the three had argued. They had thought it better if they did not interfere. They weren't suicidal.

"He cannot help you. It's his period of vulnerability," Kaede stated.

Miroku's eyes widened slightly. "You mean tonight he's…." He dropped off mid-sentence.

"What? He's what?" Kagome inquired, confused, "I feel like I'm missing something here."

The four exchanged looks while Kagome waited somewhat impatiently, for someone to explain what was going on that she did not know about.

Kaede explained. "Inuyasha, as you know, is a half-demon. So, you see, during every new moon…"

* * *

Kaede watched the three teenager get into the car and pull out of the driveway. The headlights had been the only light outside and as they drove away, the two were left in the darkness. 

"This is against my better judgement," Midoriko murmured beside her.

"She is not a child."

Midoriko sneered. "Yeah, you only just call her that all the time," she said sarcastically.

Kaede ignored her. "she can take care of herself. And they can take care of her."

"We should have gone with them," Midoriko grumbled as she abruptly turned and went back inside.

"No, this time it is not our battle." Kaede followed her inside, closing the door behind her, keeping the hungry bugs out.

"So says you," Midoriko responded as she flopped down on a couch.

"Besides, I'm an old woman and you haven't been able to fight well since that centipede demon almost crushed you in half."

Midoriko merely looked away.

"And if I'm not mistaken, it was you who scolded Kikyo for bringing Inuyasha back with her that one time. Since then, Inuyasha has aided us greatly."

"Oh, I still hold onto my words. That hanyou is no good."

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Kagome?" Sango asked worriedly. "You don't want us to come with you?" 

It's not that Sango didn't trust Kouga, it was only… no wait that was it. She did not trust the wolf demon at all.

Kagome stood outside the car, leaning in Sango's opened window. The weapon of her choice—her bow—was in the back seat of the car. No use bringing it and alarming all wolves and other demons in the vicinity.

She smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine. The wolves wouldn't harm me and I'll be safe while among them. Plus, I need to talk with Kouga," she told them one again for what most have been the third or fourth time. "And you also need to go home and change clothes, Sango. Go to my house, perform the spell and I'll meet you in the park in, um, let's say an hour."

"One hour," Miroku told her, "and then we'll come searching for you."

She saluted him. "Alright, captain," she said mockingly with a smile.

Without another word, he put the car into gear and both of her friends drove away. The smile slipped from her face the moment they were out of view. Normally she would not mind if they came with her, but if they happened to run upon Yukio… well let's just say there would be a lot of things broken in the room. Including people.

She also did not mind seeing Kouga, but certain other wolves….

She stuck her chin out stubbornly and began walking. She would not let her nerves get to her.

Kagome did not remember exactly where the club that the DOA gang's liar ran was, but it turned out it didn't matter. All she had to do was follow the pounding music and it led her right to the front entrance, which showed another problem. There was a long line to get into it and she did not feel like, nor did she have the time to wait.

Trying to look as if she knew what she was doing, she confidently walked up to the wolf demon at the entrance allowing only certain people through, while some demons and humans grumbled as they watched her try to cut the line.

She stopped in front of the demon, opened her mouth to say something, when she realized she did not know what to say. The rather muscular, tough-looking, demon looked at her and scoffed.

"Yeah, little missy? What do ya want?"

"I… I need to get inside," she told him. She heard a demon behind her snicker.

"Ya do, do ya?" he said with a harsh laugh.

Kagome hated getting laughed at. She was about to open her mouth to speak, when another wolf demon whispered in the first one's ear. His eyes widened as he looked back at Kagome. He let her through without another word. Kagome hid a smirk of satisfaction.

If she thought the music was loud outside, it was nothing compared to the thundering it was inside. Her head began throbbing after taking only a few steps into the room. How could the demons, that had better hearing then she did, stand it?

The large room was entirely packed with people and was dark except for the multicolored lights that randomly moved around the room, which were making her head spin. All she could see was a big clump of people, but could tell no one apart. She did not even know how to find her way to the back room that she and Kouga had talked in last time.

She tried wading through the large groups of people, but was always pushed out somehow. Her eyes became blinded by the light and she stumbled around. Kagome squeaked when someone grabbed her around the waist and brought them to her.

She began struggling, when she heard the demon shout in her ear above the loud music, "hey, don't worry. It's me."

Kagome turned partially around to see who this "me" was and was relieved to see Ginta. She relaxed in his arms and he took her wrist in his hand, weaving through the demons and humans, while dragging her behind.

Finally they were out of the room with the door closed firmly behind them, though Kagome's head was still pounding.

"What are you doing here, Kagome?" Ginta asked curiously.

"I need to talk with Kouga. Do you think you can get him for me?" she inquired with a small hopefully smile.

He complied and left the room to go back into the chaos and search for Kouga, leaving Kagome. Alone. Great, just great. She waited somewhat impatiently, waves of nervousness coming off her.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is," she heard the voice behind her.

She froze, but said, "I could say the same about you."

Kagome turned slowly to see Yukio standing not five feet away. Too close for comfort.

"What are you doing back here, sweet?" he asked casually, though the way he took steps forward suggested a very different mood.

"None of your business," she told him, folding her arms over her chest while trying to keep herself from taking a step back. Hell, she was keeping herself from turning and running the other way. If need be, she could always go for the crossbow strapped to her back. But she did not want to shot him. If she wanted him dead, she'd have told Kouga what'd he did. Somehow she thought that he'd be able to make it over to her before she could even reach it anyway.

"Hmm, I'm surprised you came back at all. That took guts, sweet. Come to rat me out?" Another threatening step forward.

Kagome couldn't help it. She took a step back. "No. Believe it or not, this isn't about you."

Abruptly, he stopped. He heard the truth in her words. The tension in his body drained out. Then out of pure curiosity, he asked, "why didn't you tell?"

He was glad she had not. It made things easier for him. If the other demons did not know he was working for Naraku, he could still be used as a spy for him. He only wondered why the girl had kept quiet. Was she that stupid?

She opened her mouth to answer, but found she didn't have one. Not one she could tell him anyway. He would not believe her.

Luckily, that's when Kouga and Ginta came back, along with Hakkaku.

Kouga took one look at Yukio, snarled, and said, "Leave. Now."

Yukio looked like he wanted to argue, but another growl from Kouga left him sending a glare first at Kouga then Kagome before he turned and left the room.

Before Kouga could even ask why she had come, Kagome went into a full explanation of the situation at hand. Kouga listened without comment, and Ginta and Hakkaku, who had stayed in the room, seemed to comment only if Kouga allowed them to. Since he did not, they did not speak.

"…so I was wondering if you wanted to come along when we met Naraku," Kagome concluded.

If Inuyasha could not come, Kouga was the next best thing. After all, the note had said to bring friends if she wished and Kouga was her friend. Sort of. Sango and Miroku were great and good fighters at that, but it would be more comforting if she had some demon back-up.

It only took moments for Kouga to consider. "I've never met this Naraku character and we need to keep you safe. So I'm in." he nodded to the two wolves behind him. "They'll come too."

It was an order, not a request. The two were compelled to agree, but their faces showed no annoyance at the command so Kagome kept her mouth shut about it. She was too relieved that she had someone to help her to worry about whether either wolf actual had wanted to come along.

"Then come on. We have to meet Miroku and Sango," she said with a smile.

* * *

Kouga spoke a few words to a couple of wolves, then the four of them were off to the park to meet her two friends. It was not too long a walk and no one dared bother them along the way, humans and demons alike sensing the power that radiated off the demons by her side. 

Surprisingly, they reached the park before Miroku and Sango. Kagome sat down on a swing, slowly swinging back and forth as they waited. Kouga lay down on the cool metal of the slide with his arms behind his head, his head turned up toward the stars. Ginta sat on the swing next to Kagome and Hakkaku waited patiently, leaning against a nearby tree.

Kagome wished they'd hurry up. Being in the park brought back memories of the previous day and that only brought back the memory of Shippo…. How badly had they hurt him? Judging by the picture, pretty badly. She felt the tears prickle her eyes and she clutched the heart-shaped locket around her neck. Was he even still alive?

She snapped back to herself when she heard a car door and then another slam closed, then heard the footsteps of the approaching two.

Kouga sat up while crossing his arms over his chest. "About time."

Deciding to ignore the demon, Miroku turned to Kagome and said, "it's done."

Kagome managed a small smile. "Good." At least that was off her shoulders. For now.

They all walked over so the six of them were in a group in the center of the park.

"So where are we going?" Ginta asked, turning to Kagome.

Everyone looked at her expectantly.

Kagome slowly took the picture out of her coat pocket. Without looking at the picture, she turned it over to the back that held directions. Kouga glanced over her shoulder at the message written on it.

Kouga's nostrils flared. "That's written in blood."

Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat. Silently, she handed the picture to Miroku, but as soon as she did, Kouga held out his hand for it.

"Better let me drive. I know where it is," Kouga informed the monk.

Miroku frowned and looked down at the address. Well, what could he say? He certainly did not know where the place was, but he didn't want to trust _his_ car in the demon's hands.

He sighed silently and handed over the picture, while wondering if he could sue a wolf demon for damages to his car. As the group of six began walking toward the car, Miroku tossed Kouga the keys as well, which he caught gracefully.

Realizing that there was six of them and only five available seats, Kagome was first to call shotgun and since Kouga was driving, it left the other four squished in the back. Sucks for them.

They began piling into the car, one by one after Kouga had unlocked all their doors, though first Sango and Miroku moved all the weapons into the trunk.

Kagome was just about to step into the car when she heard the voice behind her.

"Going somewhere without me?" he asked.

Kagome paused and turned to Inuyasha. It may have been night, but the starlight and the headlights from Miroku's car gave her enough light to see the approaching hanyou. Except he wasn't exactly a hanyou anymore. Just like Kaede had told her, his hair was no longer its usual silver color, but instead black. His eyes had also changed, going from a golden color to a violet one. In another second, she took in the other changes, like the fact that he no longer had the long claws or the strong sense of power surrounding him. In fact, the only reason she did recognize him was from his voice and facial features.

She blinked slowly. They had told her that he'd be human, but she hadn't actually believed them fully. This proved it.

Then she remembered he had asked her a question. "Yes, actually," Kagome answered.

"Where?"

"We have to rescue—" she started.

His brain seemed to function slower than others because it took him until then to figure out her initial response.

"Wait, what?" he asked, somewhere between confused and angry.

Kagome sighed. She felt a headache coming on. "You're not coming with us," she explained.

"Oh, yes I am," he told her, taking another step forward.

Kagome, from her position still halfway in the car, got out fully and closed the door.

"No, you're not," she said simply.

"You'd take him, but not me?" he said incredulously, looking at Kouga behind the steering wheel. Now there was an accident waiting to happen.

"Inuyasha, have you _looked_ at yourself tonight? You're human!" she exclaimed. "How did you even find us?" It wasn't like he could have used his demon senses to find her.

He had wondered at first why she had not asked about his appearance, but had come to the conclusion that someone must have told her. That someone being Kaede, since no one but the three priestess had known about it and Midoriko was not likely to talk about him. Well, the priestesses were the only three that knew about it that could inform Kagome, anyway. Though, there was the possibility of one more….

"I saw Miroku's car and followed it. And don't you think I realized that?" he questioned, irritated. "What does it matter? You're human. Sango and Miroku are human."

"That's different. Sango and Miroku are trained and I have to go. You would just get yourself hurt. You're not use to human limitations." _Probably_, she added silently, since she was only guessing.

What she said was true, but he wasn't going to tell _her_ that and let her get the satisfaction of being right.

"Besides you getting hurt, if they don't know about you yet, all the better. You'll come in better use later when we might need a surprise attack." Before he could argue, she added, "plus I have these five to protect me."

Kagome could tell Inuyasha's jaw was set and he was bent on coming. Kagome was just as determined for him not to.

"Bye, Inuyasha," she told him as she opened the door and got back in the car.

"Kagome," he said in a warning tone.

She did not pay attention, only turned Kouga and told him to drive.

"Kagome!" he exclaimed, banging his fists against the window.

Miroku winced at the abuse to his car and was only glad he was only human. Had he been normal he could have punched right through the window. Well actually, had he been normal, he could have lifted the back end of the car up and kept them from going. Good thing he wasn't.

Kouga turned the key in the ignition. "Hold onto your seats," he said as he put the car in gear and smirked. "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

He put his foot down on the gas hard and the car jumped to a start, throwing them all forward and then back into their seats. Kagome could hear the faint yelling of her name from outside as they sped away.

At the velocity at which Kouga was going, Kagome clicked her seatbelt in the holder so that it was secure. She noticed Kouga himself was not wearing one, but if push came to shove he could survive a throw out the windshield. Kagome could not.

Since the seatbelts in the back did not accommodate four, the four could not use them. Boy, did Kagome feel sorry for them. Though she felt most sorry Sango, who was half-sitting on Miroku's lap. Miroku did not mind in the least. In fact, he had put his arms around her waist "to keep her in place", or so he said.

If they hadn't needed him to be conscious for the fight that may come, Sango would have clabbered him. As it was, she merely grabbed her wrist and held on painfully tight every time his hand would begin to wander.

They drove for awhile, which was saying a lot since Kouga was practically going double the speed limit, pissing off every car they passed. He seemed to know where he was going, so no one questioned him.

Abruptly, he slowed down and turned into a parking lot, and a quite large one at that. There were no building in sight around it, except for one that looked half-crumbled upon itself next to the lot. There were a few lights, illuminating a few spaces in the parking lot, but the majority was left in the dark.

Kouga parked at the very end of it, a couple of spaces from the nearest light. There was stillness in the car as he turned off the engine, but it only lasted for a minute or two before he opened his door, then everyone followed suit. He popped the trunk on his way out and each of them grabbed their weapons.

They looked out at the night around them. Nothing.

"We're a little early," Sango explained.

"What do we do now?" Hakkaku asked.

Kagome searched the darkness. "Wait," Kagome said simply.

Suddenly, a growling came from deep in Kouga's throat, followed by the two other wolves. Kouga's head whipped around toward a certain light that was swinging back and forth, the light flashing on and off quickly every minute or so.

He never said anything, but he did not have to. Kagome already knew why he was growling.

He had arrived.

Finally she began to hear the soft sound of footsteps against the gravel, coming their way. Kouga turned around once again, still growling, obvious hearing something from behind them as well. However, Kagome's eyes were fixated in front of her.

A dark outline of someone was coming closer, the echo of footsteps along with it. He was a demon, he did not have to make a sound, but it seemed he only did so to add to the effect.

The old, swinging light went out, longer, it seemed, than it had before. The footsteps stopped. Then the light flashed back on and illuminated the face of the demon. Kagome jumped back at the abruptness to it.

A baboon's face floating in the darkness before he took a step forward and the rest of his body was brought to light. His body was white fur, the only thing not white, the blue on his face.

"So you're Kagome," the demon said.

"Naraku." One word. Yet it held so much emotion. "Where's Shippo?"

"Oh, he won't be coming."

She could hear the smirk in his voice, knew the taunting in his words, knowing that she would wonder whether the kitsune was okay or not. And it made her angry. Terribly angry. Then before she even knew what she was doing, her hand found an arrow and she had strung and shot it without knowing she had. Kagome only realized what she had done when she saw the arrow shooting through the air.

As it had left her bow, a pinkish light had surrounded her and it. Once the arrow had left her hand, the light around Kagome had faded. The power around the arrow had not.

It hit Naraku dead on, drove into his chest, into his heart, and the arrow exploded inside him. Then Naraku stumbled backward and onto the floor, where Naraku disintegrated into a million pieces.

She blinked. That was it? He was gone?

"A puppet," she heard Sango say beside her, scornfully.

Oh.

Then the attack began. Hundreds of demons from all around them began their attack. The five of them turned to form a circle around Kagome, fighting the demons that came close, while she shot arrows between two of them.

Sango threw her hiraikotsu, taking out dozens of demons at a time, splitting them in half as she tossed it and when it made its return trip. The rest had to fight more intimately, though Sango too was vulnerable those moments when her weapon was gone. During one of those moments, a demon jumped her and began biting viciously into her shoulder.

She cried out in pain and drew the sword from her side, but another demon grabbing her arm stopped her from using it. She used her free arm to punch the demon that was eating at her shoulder in the side of the head, wincing as her hand met the hard bone.

The demon slumped down and Sango heaved the body at the other demon, then used her sword to cut them both down. However, her hiraikotsu came back before she had time to catch it, hitting her forcefully and making her stumble backwards before falling to the floor.

Blinking back the black spots that came into her vision, she forced herself up a few minutes later as more demons attacked, trying not to look at her shoulder that was in bloody ruins and hurting like hell. She was having trouble moving her left arm as it was.

Miroku watched Sango fall from the corner of his vision, and kept the demons away from her as she slowly got back up. A snake demon slithered up to him and bit into his calf, but he shook it off and crushed it with the end of his staff. He then picked up the staff and swung it at a charging demon.

Kouga punched and bit at the enemy, using his speed to strike them down before they ever knew what hit them. He kicked another in the stomach, sending it flying backward, making a bunch of other demons fall over with it. His hand closed over another's throat, crushing it, as he sensed another behind him too late. However, when he turned, an arrow shot passed him, taking out the demon about to run its claws through Kouga's stomach.

He took a second to flash a smile at Kagome, before another demon took another swipe at his arm, slicing it open. He growled and dove back into the fight.

Ginta and Hakkaku had weapons that Kagome could not identify at their sides, but they were sharp and deadly enough, so what did it matter what they were called? The two fought as a team, back to back, helping the other as they fought.

"There's too many!" Sango cried out as she was forced backward. She threw her hiraikotsu once more.

Kouga grinned. "That's why I had a bunch of wolves follow us from the club."

A few minutes later, just as Kouga said, maybe ten, twelve wolves came to their aid, some with weapons, others not. The fighting ensued, but they were tiring and Kagome was running out of arrows.

Something was circling around them, fast. Kagome could sense it. It never stopped, as though looking for a way in or waiting for a certain opportunity. Then another, less power demon jumped in the circling.

One of them caught her eye and she saw a blur of white fur. Another one of Naraku's puppets?

Abruptly, it stopped circling them, stopping on top of the streetlight. Kagome saw it was one of Naraku's puppets, or actually him, though she doubted the latter. In his hand she saw the glint of steel, but could not make out what it was. It was gone from his hand a moment later. He flung it and it moved so fast, Kagome could not follow it through the air.

Miroku let out a cry of anguish and fell to hard to his knees on the gravel. He was hunched over himself, his head nearly touching the ground. There were dots of his blood on the ground surrounding him.

Kagome heard Naraku laugh and disappear. Her face grew pale and her eyes widened as she looked over at Miroku.

What had he done?

"Miroku!" Sango yelled and bent down beside him, one hand on his back as she tried to discover what happened.

Kagome heard Sango muffle a cry as she saw what had happened. Miroku then leaned back and she had a look herself.

A dagger. A dagger was embedded in Miroku's right palm, the blade going through his hand. The only reason the dagger had not gone all the way through was because of the hilt that was pressed against Miroku's palm. Miroku's left hand gripped his right wrist painfully tight to try and keep the hand steady as he bit his lip to keep from crying out again. Blood, extensive amounts of it, dripped down from his hand and poured down onto the pavement below.

He let out small hisses of pain. His face pale and his brow dripping in sweat, he looked up and into Sango's face, inches from his. A small part of him noticed her eyes were moist. "…San…go…."

She nodded mutely and put her hand to the hilt, gripping it tightly, so much so that her knuckles were white and her hand shook. In one quick, fluid motion, she pulled the dagger free.

Miroku screamed.

Kagome whimpered softly as she watched. Her bow dropped helplessly to the floor, forgotten.

That's when the second demon that had been circling saw his opportunity. He jumped down toward Kagome and by the time Kagome had noticed, it was too late to pick up her bow.

The demon snatched her up off the floor, Kagome struggling all along the way. He began taking off with Kagome slung over one shoulder and the demons on the ground retreated.

"Let me go!" she exclaimed as she pounded on his back. "Let me go!"

"Can't do that," the demon's voice slurred back so that the words found her ears.

Still she continued to pound, then, noticing a knife in a sheath by his side, she grabbed for the knife and plunged it into the demon's side.

He growled in pain and threw her to the ground. Before she even had time to get up and make a run for it, he held her down and stuffed a cloth over her mouth.

She yelled some words that were muffled by the cloth and kicked at him, before a minute later her eyes began to droop and her body relaxed.

Smiling cruelly, he slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder once more and took off into the night.


	11. Chapter 11: A Game of Chess

_**In a World of Demons**_

Chapter 11: A Game of Chess

* * *

Sango's right hand gripped the wheel tightly, so tightly her skin was a deadly white. Her left arm was left useless in her lap, her shoulder a bloody mess. Her eyes were intent on the road in front of her as she wove through what little cars were still driving late at night. 

"Can you go any faster?" Miroku gritted out beside her, his voice hardly sounding like his own. It was so filled with pain and the effort he was taking to control it.

"Not without risking crashing into something," she responded tensely.

Though there weren't many other vehicles on the road, there were enough that she couldn't go too fast without running into them. As it was, she was already getting honked at enough for nearly colliding with six or seven cars and even when they did get to a less populated road, the path was too rough to dare to go even more above the speed limit than Sango was already.

She chanced a quick glance at the person in her passenger seat. He held his wounded hand firmly to his chest, the quick flowing blood hardly stopping even as he held a cloth around it. The dark red substance covered both his hands and halfway up his arms, now dripping onto his chest and lap, sliding its way onto his new car's seats. His face was shining pale and she knew it had nothing to do with moonlight, especially since the moon was gone from that night. Sweat dripped down his face, rolling over closed eyelids as his face was set in grim concentration.

She snapped her head back to look at the road. That damned Naraku! His blade had gone right through Miroku's hand… and as though _that_ wasn't bad enough, the blade had had some sort of demonic power in it. Yes, streaks on black were across his skin, starting from the wound in the center of his palm and growing further up his arm as more time passed. It crawled under his skin, snaking closer and closer to his center. She knew—she didn't know how, she just _knew_—if it reached his chest… his heart would stop.

"What's this? Do my eyes deceive me?" His voice was light, or at least, attempted to be light. Even through his pain he tried to joke. "I didn't know the powerful demon slayer was capable of tears."

Her eyes squeezed closed for a moment as two more tears betrayed her by sliding down her cheek. "Don't." _Don't act like everything's all right when its not_.

Her voice was thick and she silently cursed herself for it. But what was wrong with that? Of course she'd be upset. Miroku was her dear, dear friend. And even if she didn't want to admit it, maybe she thought of him as a little something more…

He lifted his good hand to her cheek. "None of this then." He tried to wipe away the tears, but left a trail of his own blood where her tearstains had been.

A sharp honk and a flash of bright light brought Sango back to herself as she slammed on the breaks, just in time to avoid hitting the truck in front of her. Both her and Miroku jerked forward and she heard Miroku hiss in pain as he hit the dashboard.

She winced and quickly brushed away the tears from her bleary eyes. "Sorry!"

"Not a problem," he muttered. He slowly sat back in the seat once more while Sango noticed a dark stain where his body had been slammed. "Just keep driving."

She backed up a bit before hitting the gas, zooming away further into the night and doing her best not to hit any other people. After two almost failed attempts at that, Miroku spoke up.

"Maybe I should drive…?" he suggested, but wished he hadn't after the look she threw him.

"With your luck tonight, we'd be off plunging into some body of water," she replied. "Or collide with a deer and under some freak circumstances it'll be tangled in the car. Not to mention you'd probably lose consciousness from blood loss and then—"

"I get the point," he said with a grimace.

Without looking at him, she noticed from the corner of her eye that his injured hand and arm were being thrown into small spasms. Nothing too serious yet, but she could tell that they hurt by the expression on his face that he tried so desperately to cover.

"We'll be at Kaede and Midoriko's soon," she told him quietly. "I only hope that Kagome's all right…"

And she knew very well that Kagome was _not_. On the one hand, the demons needed her and whatever strange powers she might have, so they wouldn't kill her. On the other… sometimes there were worse things that death. Very painful things.

How did things go so wrong?

They shouldn't have gone in the first place. They shouldn't. Midoriko and Kaede were right to try and stop them. Nothing good could have come from it. Even though Naraku had kidnapped Shippo, of course he wouldn't have brought the little kitsune along! So why did they go? To get a glimpse of this Naraku demon once and for all? Sure, he had said he wouldn't harm Shippo further than he already had, but he might have killed Shippo already and there coming or not would not change what he would do or what he had done.

The only thing that saved _them_ for being wiped out was Kouga's quick thinking (surprising as it was) at having some of his pack coming to help them fight. And what good came out of the night? Kagome was _kidnapped_, Miroku had what was probably a fatal wound, and her and the rest were all injured in some way.

Kouga had taken off almost as soon as he saw Kagome being taken away. He and his two most loyal wolves had gone to follow in hopes of taking her back, but Sango knew it was in vain. With Miroku unable to do anymore fighting, Sango had helped Miroku into his car while telling the rest of Kouga's wolves the fight was a lost cause. There was just too many opposing them. They, however, had scoffed at her suggestion to run.

Miroku's new car—the other being totaled when Yukio had taken to throwing_ her_ through the windshield, not to mention when Miroku had hit him with it—had taken quite a beating as she plowed through the demons, but she didn't care. Her only thoughts were getting to Kaede and Midoriko's, and quickly at that.

She turned off the somewhat busy road onto a deserted one. It was hardly even a road, more like a beaten path made by the cars that went through it. She sped up, though was careful of the sharp turns she had to make all the while negative thoughts plagued her mind.

What kind of protection were they anyway? Despite their best efforts, Sango and Miroku were unable to be much help to Kagome. Inuyasha had done a far better job and even Kouga was a big help, but even they could not do everything. There were just too many enemies and not enough allies.

And now, because of their inability to keep her safe, look where it had landed Kagome…

It took her longer than the normal hour to reach the house since the parking lot they had fought in was further away, but when Sango arrived, she couldn't help the feeling of relief that swelled through her. She heard the familiar crunching of gravel as she drove up to the house and almost wanted to weep with happiness.

She came to a halt, though didn't turn off the car. Miroku slowly made his way out, keeping his injured hand close to him. He closed the door, but paused when he saw that Sango didn't move. She still looked straight ahead with the one hand gripping the wheel. He leaned down to look at her.

"Sango?" he asked, though there was a warning tone in his voice. No, she wasn't going to do what he thought she was going to do. "You're just as injured as I am," he reasoned.

"What, this?" She touched her hand to her bloodied shoulder to try and prove that wound was not that bad. It didn't have quite the effect she wanted when she winced slightly. "It's nothing. It looks worse than it is."

"Sango… You can't go after Kagome. Not in your condition."

She felt a flare of anger. _And you just want to do nothing and leave her in _his _hands_? She quickly cooled her temper, however, and spoke truthfully. "I'm not."

His left hand gripped the car as though if she started moving, he'd be able to stop her. "Then where are you going? This is absurd, you need to be healed. You can hardly move your left arm!"

She struggled to prove him wrong by lifting her arm a few inches and then gently putting it back the way it was. She would have sent him a smug look, but she was too busy biting her bottom lip and blinking back the tears that wanted to come.

"See? I'm okay." From his disbelieving look, she added, "really." Not that the one added word convinced him much.

She put the car into gear and he backed away reluctantly, not wanting to get his feet run over. Oh, he was sure she would have backed out of the driveway whether he was still standing there or not. Hence the "feet running over" part of his thoughts.

"Then where are you going?" he repeated.

She spared him a glance before answering. "To find Inuyasha."

* * *

She didn't know exactly when she woke up. Minutes, hours, days later? 

Okay, she was pretty sure it wasn't _days_, but Kagome was certain it was, at the very least, a few hours later.

Her head felt groggy, a sort of fuzzy feeling dominating her mind. All she knew was she was on something cool, part of her face and her front pressed against it. The hand beside her face twitched, the fingers moving ever so slightly as a soft groan escaped her. Her eyes slowly opened, feeling like leaded weights. They almost as soon closed as she wished she would just go back to sleep.

Sleep? Was that was she had been doing?

A part of her wanted to roll over and say "yes", but another part was sending off alarm signals. Annoying alarm signals at that. They threw tiny jolts at her mind, forcing her to wake up and no longer allowing her to stay blissfully unconscious. Damn them.

"Boss, I think she's wakin' up."

Boss? She didn't know anyone named Boss.

Her eyes opened once more after a few failed attempts and she felt her heart skip a beat as she found herself looking into a stranger's odd purple eyes. She would have actually jerked in surprise had her body not been so sluggish to react to her will.

"Yup, she's def'nitely awake," the stranger said before standing up and putting his shoes into her line of view.

She tried to speak. "Unnggh." …Not quite what she had been going for.

"Want me to slap her around a bit for you, Nara—I mean, my lord," he hastily changed, though the words "my lord" didn't hold much respect in them. "I owe her a punch or two."

It wasn't the implied violence that drew her attention, nor the name the person had said. No, it was the voice that she recognized. Yes, she knew it, but who…?

"No, Yukio. What hosts would we be if we harmed our guest?" came the deep, smooth voice.

Yukio?

She felt her eyes widened as her muddled brain remembered the name and with it brought back the dreary facts that she knew about him. Yukio, one of Kouga's wolves who held no loyalty for the leader and almost kidnapped her once. Yukio, who'd beaten her friends and who had long ago promised revenge on her and Sango. A demon that held little to zero love (yeah right, less than zero. More like negative number love, if it was possible) for "the girl of the prophecy", a.k.a. her.

Kagome quickly rose to her hands and knees before plopping into a sitting position on the hard stone floor. Her eyes didn't have to search far to find the wolf demon, standing a few feet behind the other demon that was still hovering around her.

"Tch, have it your way," he said, crossing his arms. Then, as though he could feel his gaze on her, he turned to look down at Kagome, sending an unpleasant smile her way. "Rise and shine, love. I can't wait to see what lovely torture they'll use to get you to agree to help us."

He'd taken to calling her pet names, probably because he thought it annoyed her more than when he insulted her. He couldn't be more right about that. The way he said such endearing words, the tone of his voice… it made her shiver in what was most definitely not a good way.

Before she could find her voice to ask, or rather demand to know where she was and the likes, Yukio was stalking toward her. He reached down, his hand tangling in her black locks and gripping the back of her head. As if he knew what was coming he said, "No questions from you, sweet."

On the word "sweet" he tightened his grip while starting to lift upward and she could do nothing but comply by standing up. He did not seem pleased, however, by how easy she yielded to him and gave a hard tug, causing her to yelp. Only then was he somewhat satisfied.

"Yukio."

His name was said none too nicely, a commanding tone to it. Upon hearing it, Yukio spun around, Kagome with him and she was left staring at what looked like a handsome young man, though she would hardly dare believe that was what he _really_ was. Dark eyes watched her from where he sat in a chair in the center of the room, a few steps leading up to it.

"Release her," he told Yukio plainly, yet his words held so much power.

She could feel his nails bite against her skin in annoyance, but he jerked away from her, letting her go and causing her to stumble forward. She glanced back in an attempt to throw Yukio a dirty look, but he already had his back toward her, walking toward, before exiting through, a door at the end of the room. She made a mentally note of where it was.

The man seemed to noticed this too because he laughed. "No, you won't be getting out that easy."

Kagome had no doubt that that was true. Unfortunately, there was one particularly large demon standing right by the exit. Not that she had any chance anyway. A glance around the room showed a large amount of demons in it, some looking quite human, others… not.

She didn't want to stick around much longer. Would Sango and Miroku be able to find her? Kouga? What about Inuyasha? No, he didn't even know she'd been taken… and she didn't think Sango and Miroku would be able to track her down. Did that leave Kouga as her last hope?

She turned her attention back to the "man" sitting in the chair. "Who are you?" she asked.

He smirked, though he wasn't amused. No, he looked rather disappointed in her reasoning ability. "I'm Naraku. I believe you've heard of me."

Oh. She had seen him that night, but she failed to realize that the whole baboon thing had been a costume. Silly her.

She'd heard enough about him to last her a lifetime and seeing him twice that night had been enough, but here she was, gazing at him once more, face to face. She felt anger rise in her; she could still see what he did to Miroku vividly in her mind, not to mention poor, little Shippo. Yes, there was anger there… and fear.

Her next instinct was to ask, "what do you want with me?" or "why am I here?" but she very well knew the answer to those already. Still, a few moments more of silence and she couldn't help but blurt out, "what do you want?" just to fill it.

"I should think that would be obvious." There was a tad bit of impatience in his voice.

Well of course she knew what he wanted. He wanted to use her to bring back the times of old, where demons ruled over fearful humans it seemed. Right, that much she knew. She still had no idea _how_. Sure, she knew now that she was able to use her powers to hurt demons… so how would that help Naraku? He must have known something that all the others didn't and she doubted he'd be inclined to share.

She rephrased her question. "What are you going to do with me?"

He didn't answer her question, no, more like he ignored her words as though she hadn't spoken. Instead, he gestured to the chair across from him. "Come, young miko."

Miko? That meant priestess, didn't it? She remembered Kaede using the word before, but surely Kagome wasn't one. Didn't a priestess have to be trained to become one? Okay, so she was being trained, but that was to control her powers, nothing else. …Right?

She eyed Naraku with suspicion and apprehension, thinking of the invitation he had just offered. Her gaze flittered across to the chair and then back to the demon. Well, what else could she do?

Trying to steady her rapidly beating heart, she held her chin up high and ascended the few stairs. Her legs tried to shake, but she controlled it by tightening her muscles, though it made her walk rather stiffly. As she felt the drumming in her ears, she sat down, hardly an arm's length away. She didn't like being so close to him, but she feared more what he would do if she _didn't_ comply. As long as his requests were simple, she might just listen.

As she scooted backward, her back hit the back of the chair and she immediately stiffened, her eyes widening just the slightest bit. There was something attached to her back, under her jacket…

The crossbow.

Oh, how she _loved_ Kaede at that moment! _This could be very, very good_. Now she just needed the perfect moment and…

But what if she did manage to hit Naraku? Would it even hinder him for a moment? If it didn't, she would be in big, _big_ trouble. If it did and somehow managed to kill him, like if she hit him in the heart let's say… she still had many other demons loyal to Naraku around her. They'd would with no doubt attack her afterward. Either way, she was looking at lots and lots of pain. Would it be worth it to take that one shot?

He noticed her subtle movement and the change in her attitude, but said nothing of it. He made one swift gesture with his hand and in the next moment two demons were bringing over a table, placing it between Naraku and Kagome.

Kagome started when she saw it, her lips parting in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?" What kind of joke was this? This… this was _crazy_. They were enemies here, not sitting down to chat about the weather and make a comment like, "_So how about those Knicks_?". And they were certainly not going to play some game like they were _friends_!

He glanced down at the chessboard, the white pieces on Kagome's side, the black pieces closer to him. (_Oh the irony_, Kagome thought dryly). It looked brand new, not a single piece scratched or dulled in any way.

"No, I'm afraid I'm not," Naraku replied, then glanced at her. It was hard not to get upset when he was so close, looking her dead straight in the eye, especially as she felt small flames of anger rise. "You do know how to play…?"

"Yes," she told him. She tore her gaze away, instead looking down at the pieces as though that was the reason she had done it. She picked up one of the pawns and almost dropped it. It was heavier than she had thought.

Well, she did know how to play for the most part. She didn't for the life of her know the names of all the pieces (hopefully there would be no test on it at the end), but she knew how each moved. She hoped.

Then, with defiance in her voice as she gathered her courage, she asked, "why should I?"

He seemed amused. "Do you have much of a choice?"

_Well, there's A, play chess, B, don't play and possibly get punished for it. Or C, make a run for it and get myself injured and/or killed in the process,_ Kagome reasoned in her mind. _Call me crazy, but I'll go with choice number one. …Except I used letters, so A it is._

"If I win… what happens?" she asked cautiously.

The idea seemed new to him and he seemed to think about it before asking, "what do you request?"

She searched her mind, still recovering for the effects of whatever they'd drugged her with. Then she remembered the whole reason they'd come in the first place. Shippo. As she thought his name, another surge of anger went through her and then… guilt. Anger toward Naraku and guilt for having let Shippo slip her mind until now.

No matter how easy on the eyes Naraku was, he still had been the one to hurt Shippo. The one who'd put a dagger through Miroku's hand and the demon that had been hunting her. She had to remember that, even if it all seemed so surreal. She'd have to continue cautiously and be very careful what she did and said.

"That I go free," she answered, "along with Shippo."

He smirked at her words. "Oh no, I'm afraid I could never do that. Even though I'm certain I will win, I wouldn't risk losing you. But I can arrange for the kitsune to be freed." A twisted smile appeared on his face. "However, if I win…" He let it hang there, but she got the gist of what he meant. Naraku watched her think about this before asking, "your decision?"

Feeling a lump form in her throat, she swallowed and met Naraku's deceiving eyes. "Who goes first?"

* * *

She knew Inuyasha wouldn't be much use. Not when he was human on this night—Damn it, why this night of all night? The one night where they really could have used his help. But wait…? Could that have been one of the reasons for Naraku picking this particular night…? She filed the thought away for further thought. 

Still, Sango tried to find the half-breed all that night. Key word being "tried". No matter where she looked, he was no where to be found. Not that she really knew where to find him in the first place. As far as she knew, he had no definite home, making finding him difficult. He always found them… or, more accurately, Kagome.

Where would a human Inuyasha go? He couldn't go jumping from roof to roof like he usually did and probably wouldn't want to be seen much at all. She even checked places opened all night and others that she'd seen him by before, but she had no luck.

She'd stopped at club Disillusion to see if Kouga was around and if he had found anything concerning the kidnapping, but the wolves said they hadn't seen him. If they had been curious of her disheveled appearance—a ruined shoulder with blood covering most of her left side, not to mention various other scratches and bruises still forming—none commented on it.

It was near sunrise when she had stopped to tend to her wounds, parking the car and getting out to sit on the hood. She got enough blood on the inside of the car as it was—though she highly doubted Miroku would be using the car again after this night. Two totaled cars in such a small amount of time. Now wasn't he just Mr. Lucky?

It was right around then that he found her. He definitely wasn't looking for her, but their paths just seemed to cross. It was not quite the person she was looking for, but it was good enough.

"That's a nasty wound, demon slayer," she heard a male voice say from behind her.

Sango didn't even take the time to glance behind her. "Guess so." She proceeded to tear off the sleeve on her good side. When she felt him lean against the hood next to her, only then did she look over at the wolf demon. "No luck finding her then?"

Kouga let out a soft growl, his arms crossing across his chest. "None." He seemed frustrated to say the least. Her scent had just stopped, which meant the damned demon was cloaking her from them. No one had _ever_ been able to throw him off before—that is, until now. He just couldn't find Kagome, no matter how much that fact enraged him.

Sango paused to watch him for a moment or two before going back to bandaging her shoulder with the torn sleeve. Or at least, attempting to. She couldn't wrap it around herself well with just the one hand.

"Mind giving me some help?" she inquired, not expecting him to agree.

Her words seemed to snap him out of whatever brooding thoughts he was having. He didn't look too happy doing it, but surprisingly he tightly wrapped her wound. So tightly in fact that she grimaced as he tied the two loose ends in a knot.

She mumbled her thanks while he told her, "you should get a healer to look at that."

"I'll be alright for now," she informed him. "I'm looking for Inuyasha."

If he'd been a dog—or a real wolf—she was sure his lips would have curled back in distaste. As it was, his eyes hardened and his face took on an unpleasant look. "Why are you looking for that mutt?"

She eased herself off the hood of the car, while she attempted to move her left hand. It was painful, but she could move it better than she could before. Lucky for her she wasn't left-handed.

"He always seems to be able to find Kagome. No matter where she is," the demon slayer explained as an idea struck her. Kouga would definitely not like it, but maybe… "…Do you think you could find him?"

He scoffed at her. "That hanyou's stench is strong enough I could find him if he was halfway across the world."

An idea struck. "Is that so…"

It took a lot of convincing, but she managed to get him to agree to bring her to Inuyasha. Kouga clearly did not want to _voluntarily_ go anywhere near him, but he had to agree that if there was any slight chance that he'd be able to find the missing Kagome, it was worth seeking the hanyou out.

It was then that he proceeded to pick up Sango and throw her over his shoulder.

"Can't we take the car!" Sango said, obviously flustered. The fact that she could feel her cheeks redden did nothing to help.

"I can't smell his scent as well from inside and this is much faster," he told her, impatience in his voice. As though anticipating her next question, he continued, "and you're not fast enough to keep up with me, especially with that wound. You'll get dizzy in no time."

"I'm dizzy now," she muttered. Her hair was long enough to brush against the floor, even in its ponytail. Her head felt too heavy and being upside down didn't help the feeling. "Ugnhh. I think I might throw up."

At that, he quickly changed the way he was holding her, carrying her in his arms instead. "Better?" he asked, somewhat gruffly.

How did Kagome put up with him? But in ways he was easier to deal with than Inuyasha. "Better."

Then without warning, he was running at incredible speeds. The wind picked up around them, but a sudden burst of wind was the only thing that people noticed as they passed. No wonder his other wolves hadn't been able to keep up with Kouga.

_I _really_ hope I don't throw up…_ was her most dominate thought.

* * *

Sango gave him a stern look. "Stay here." 

He crossed his arms, most of his weight on the one foot as he practically threw the same look back at her.

"I mean it."

Kouga glanced away as he half-leaned, half-sat on the fence. "Any day without seeing Inu-trash's face is a good day for me."

With a nod, she opened the white gate and started walking up the pathway, stepping gingerly over the fallen "For Sale" sign in the middle of the path. There was nothing natural about it; it looked like it had been ripped out and thrown to where it was now.

She had a feeling that wherever Inuyasha was, he was _not_ happy.

And that was most definitely an understatement.

The front door was against the inside wall, having been slammed open and never closed after that. She stepped in the house, glancing around at the bare rooms. Straight in front of her was a staircase and she went up there first. There were a total of four rooms upstairs, five including the bathroom, but all were entirely empty.

Sango went back downstairs and searched the other room, including one that she assumed was the kitchen (though it seemed weird with its lack of appliances), but Inuyasha was no where to be found. Had Kouga been wrong? She was sure someone had been here from the opened door and misplaced sign and it probably had been Inuyasha. But was he still here now?

Then she noticed a door slightly ajar from the corner of her eye. Opening it, she found that it was not a closet like she had originally thought, but instead led to the basement. Sango tried to switch on the light, but quickly found that the electricity hadn't been turned on.

Taking a deep breath, she descended. She was about to go into a dark basement with a potentially moody half-demon, one who didn't know or like her well. …Somehow, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea.

She spotted him off in one of the corners, sitting with his back partially against both walls. His eyes must have been closed because as she got closer, Sango suddenly saw a flash of two golden eyes. Golden? It appeared the sun had risen and so had his demon side.

She cautiously stopped a few feet away from him. She had never really trusted him in the first place, only cooperating with him because it made Kagome happy. Why should she start now? "Somehow I don't think this is your house. Unless you're going for the whole I-just-got-robbed look."

"What do _you_ want?" he growled.

He wasn't going to make this any easier. She sighed and said, "look, I'll make this quick. Kagome—"

"Feh, why should I care about her?"

Sango gaped at him. What? This was coming from the guy who'd gone out of his way several times to save her. And now all the sudden, this indifference? "She's in trouble!" she exclaimed.

"When is she not?" Inuyasha sneered at her. "She didn't want my help before, why should I help her now?"

So that was it. He was mad that they hadn't brought him along to fight Naraku and his goons. Okay, she could understand that and yeah, that must have really hurt for them to just drive, but there were more important things going on now.

At this point, she was glad she had decided to ask Kouga to stay outside. If he heard Inuyasha talking like he was, he would have no doubt have slammed Inuyasha's head against the wall a few times, trying to knock some sense into him.

"Guess now that I'm a demon again, I'm suddenly useful," Inuyasha went on angrily, amber eyes flashing in the dark.

Sango shook her head as she took several steps forward, caution thrown away. "You don't understand—"

"No, _you_ don't understand. She _left_ me behind and fucking drove away," he interrupted curtly.

"Technically, Kouga did the driving—"

She didn't realize how close she had been standing to him until he stood up and was towering over her, looking down at her with a reproachful look. He said each word as though it were carefully placed. "I. Don't. Fucking. Care."

Anger suddenly surged through her. If there'd been anything around she'd have knocked it down or kicked something to get his attention. As it was, she pounded the wall with her fist near his head, hard enough for her hand to sting with protest afterward.

"Can you get over yourself for one second! It's not all about you, okay? There are more important things right now. And Kagome, she's it. She needs you, depends on you." Sango's brown eyes clashed with Inuyasha's golden ones, not backing down. "You _know_ why she did it. She didn't want you to get hurt, not when you were so vulnerable. You know why? Because for some reason—God only knows why—she was _worried_ about you because she _cares_ for you. More than cares." She took another step forward, truly cornering the half-demon. "But if you still want to be angry with her for being _concerned_ for your safety, be angry later, but _not_ now. _Not_ when Kagome is in trouble."

Inuyasha finally seemed to understand that shit had hit the fan. "Trouble?" he repeated.

"Why else would I come to you?" She let out a long breath and let her anger escape with it. She rubbed her forehead with her good hand (at least it had been until she banged it against the wall) where a headache was forming. Backing up, she let Inuyasha have the space he desired.

For the first time, he seemed to notice her state. "That's not just your blood on you."

Her hand went to her cheek, touching the dried blood there. "Miroku's." Was he even okay? Had Kaede and Midoriko been able to heal him before the infection spread to his heart? No, she couldn't worry about it. She would have to leave it in the back of her mind for later. Later.

"What happened to Kagome?" Inuyasha asked her urgently.

She met his eyes once again, though no longer was there anger there. "Naraku took her." Rage flashed in Inuyasha's eyes, but it had nothing to do with Sango or Kagome. "Even Kouga wasn't able to track her down—"

He interrupted. "I know where."

* * *

Kagome nibbled further on her bottom lip, her eyes flittering from one white piece to another and then another. Not that there were many of her pieces left to choose from still on the board. Nope, Naraku had seen to that. "Dominating" was not a strong enough word to describe Naraku's game playing. Hey, in Kagome's defense, she hadn't played the game in years and hardly then at that. 

She moved her last Bishop very carefully diagonally across the board in what she thought was a safe spot.

Oh how wrong she was.

Naraku's hand moved into her line of view and when it was gone, she saw that his Knight had taken her Bishop, the horse's black eyes staring lifelessly at her.

Damn.

A pout automatically came to her lips, but she immediately schooled her face. Or at least, tried to. It didn't work too well.

"One by one, your pieces fall into my hands," he informed her. "And to think, it's your moves, your decisions that put them there."

They continued the game and a few moves later, one of her pawns made it all the way to Naraku's side. "Queen," she said, nodding over to previously fallen chess piece. But now she had her most powerful piece back.

At first Naraku had more fun chasing her Queen than going after her King. Unfortunately, that was no longer true as she had to sacrifice other pieces and constantly move to keep the one piece safe from him.

"Another piece gone as you try to protect your King," he stated as he snatched the White Knight off the table.

"I know what you're doing," she said after a short period of silence. Only then did she make her next move, capturing yet another one of his pawns with her Queen. She just had so much trouble taking down the more valuable pieces that he had. Too bad he had no such problem.

His gaze was fixed on her even as he easily moved his Rook forward, stopping on a square without looking down. "And what's that?"

"You're trying to relate the game to real life," she replied simply. She glanced up at him after moving her Queen once more.

"But life is a game. All you have to do is play your pieces right." He took his move without taking his eyes from her. "Checkmate."

Her eyes widened and she tore her eyes away to look down at the board. No, it couldn't be true! There had to be some move she could do… some move to escape him…

But there wasn't. She was cornered. No matter where he moved her King, either his Queen or his Rook would take her.

She had lost… and now her and Shippo were lost.

"You see, miko? No matter how many people you surround yourself with, in the end they'll all be taken away. And you'll be alone. That is your defeat."

Kagome let out one long, shaky breath. With one little flick of her finger, the White King was knocked over, defeated. But Kagome wasn't done.

"You've made one mistake though, Naraku." She said his name with more hate than she had with anything else in her entire life. _That's it, miko, hate me_, he thought. "I'm not the King in this scenario at all." A slight inquisitive look came on his face and she continued, "no, I'm the Queen."

An amused look was on his face, but not like he found anything funny. He rather thought her words were pathetic.

Kagome went on. "I'm the piece that everyone wants because I'm the strongest." She stood up swiftly, the chair screeching backward as she did. "I've more power than you've ever even dreamed of. And you know that, that's why you were trying to capture me. But you better believe I'll learn to control and use it and be the most powerful piece in the game." She was taking steps back and she didn't even realize it. Naraku stood quickly. "And when that day comes, there's _no way_ I'd ever use it to help _you_."

On the word "you", Kagome had slipped her jacket off and before she knew what she was doing, the crossbow was in her hand. Within another second, she'd fired a shot at Naraku.

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, what did I just do!_ Kagome thought frantically a fraction of a second after her finger pulled the trigger. Her eyes widened as a pure, pink light surrounded the arrow.

Her eyes had trouble following it, it moved so fast, but she watched, frozen, as the arrow tore through the air one. Then in the next second, it had imbedded itself in Naraku. He yelled as the pink light spread over his entire right arm.

She didn't get to see any more however, as a demon from behind her jerked her around. It punched her while another kicked her in the stomach, sending her sprawling to the floor. Another kick came to her stomach and she heard something crack with a gasp from her, before the beating abruptly stopped.

"That wasn't a smart move, girl," she heard Naraku say through gritted teeth.

Kagome glanced slowly up to see him stalking forward. She blinked several times, but her eyes weren't deceiving her. The arm she'd hit was completely missing from his body, sliced completely off by the sword he held in his other hand, apparently. Blood was quickly dripped down his form and a glance to where they had been sitting, Kagome saw the missing arm. She felt nauseous as she looked upon it, the skin dead and blackened while the arm itself seemed to be shriveled up. Would that have happened to all of him, had he not cut it off?

His sword pointed to her throat, but she knew it was an empty threat. He wouldn't kill her now after going to all the trouble of obtaining her. But there were other things he could do, painful things.

What he would have done, however, she would never know because there was a loud crash as one of the walls of the room burst apart. Before she could blink, Naraku was tumbling to the ground with another silver-haired demon onto of him.

…silver…?

"Inuyasha," she breathed. Her heart swelled with joy upon seeing him.

Inuyasha's claws dug into his skin, one of his hands gripping Naraku's to keep him from swinging it. Naraku then kicked Inuyasha away and both jumped to their feet, glaring at the other.

"Inuyasha," Naraku said with some surprise, not at all paying attention to the small injuries the half-demon had given him. "It's been awhile."

The half-demon growled as he took a step forward. "Not long enough."

Bad move. Naraku lounged forward and sliced at him with the sword in his left hand. Inuyasha managed to jump back, but not in time to avoid obtaining a thin line of crimson across his chest. He growled and tried to go after him again, but again had to dodge the blade by rolling across the ground.

"Inuyasha!"

Surprisingly, it wasn't Kagome who cried out the name. Inuyasha quickly glanced over his shoulder and then spun around in time to catch the sword Sango had tossed to him.

Kagome was surprised to see Sango with Kouga by entrance Inuyasha had made. Kouga immediately went to attacking the other demons in the room as they drew closer, using physical violence to take them down. Sango too was weaponless now—her hiraikotsu still in the trunk of Miroku's car—but certainly not defenseless. Kicking and punching, she made her way to Kagome's side.

"Are you alright?" she asked her friend.

Kagome slowly sat up. "Fine." She tried to stand, but her arm went quickly to hold her stomach as she winced. "I think I cracked a rib."

Sango helped her stand while at the same time grabbing the crossbow she had dropped. From the look of Naraku, it seemed the weapon had come in handy. "We have to get out of here."

Kagome was ready to agree; this day had been too long as it was. But just as she began to nod, she shook her head violently. _Shippo_!

* * *

Inuyasha hardly noticed when the two girls left the room, nor did he even realize Kouga was anywhere nearby; He was utterly and completely focused on the demon in front of him. He never gave Naraku a chance to speak before he attacked him with Sango's sword, but Naraku easily blocked. 

He would have thought being an arm short would slow Naraku down, but it was not so. Even as blood spurted from the wound and he was forced to use his non-dominant hand, he was still able to keep up with Inuyasha. Then again, this had to be the first time Inuyasha had ever picked up a sword. As far as that thought went, he was doing pretty well for a beginner. With Inuyasha's inexperience and Naraku's new disability, they were evenly matched.

The two danced back and forth, neither managing to wound the other and only getting more tired as time went on. Naraku slashed at his opponent's stomach, but Inuyasha blocked before he could. Their blades locked, both their arms trembling with the force it took to hold.

"As much as the effort amuses me, you were never able to stand up to me before," Naraku told him with a smirk.

"That was before," Inuyasha snapped back. He knocked Naraku's blade aside. "This is _now_."

He went to strike at the demon, but before he could, Naraku's sword was there and slicing at him. Inuyasha yelled as he jumped back and when he looked back at Naraku with gritted teeth, there was a long, deep gash in his cheek.

_Screw this_, he thought as he charged forward. The blades locked again, but this time Inuyasha kicked his foot forward and knocked the sword out of Naraku's hand. Inuyasha dropped his own as well and jumped at Naraku, attacking with his claws. Three thin scratches appeared on the demon's arm and chest.

Inuyasha readied his claws, a dark gleam in his eyes. He prepared to attack again when—

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled.

He glanced toward her voice and saw her standing with Sango, an unconscious Shippo in her arms. Kouga stood near them, still warding off the demons that came after them.

Go? He didn't want to go yet. He wanted to hack Naraku into itty, bitty pieces, then he'd be ready to leave.

Inuyasha turned back toward Naraku, taking a step forward…

"Inuyasha, let's go!" she said more urgently, worry entwined in her voice.

Hearing the concern in her voice, he winced and backed off. "We'll finish this later," he growled.

* * *

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked hesitantly, though his voice was somewhat rough. 

She didn't glance his way from where she was sitting on top of the trunk of Miroku's car. The five had hightailed it out of Naraku's hold quickly, Inuyasha carrying both Sango and Kagome holding a wounded kitsune on his back, jumping roof to roof as quickly as he dared as the sun got brighter, with Kouga following below. Upon seeing Miroku's car, he stopped there, letting both girls off to take a breather, though he warned them they couldn't stay still long. Naraku's goons were probably still looking for them.

"Kagome?" he said again, waving his hand in front of her face.

She snapped out of her thoughts and gazed up at him. "Hmm?"

"You okay?"

Was she okay? She was about to say she was, but instead abruptly shook her head. No, she really wasn't. Not yet.

She slid off the trunk and fell right into his embrace, her hands fisted in her shirt, her head rested against his chest. He tensed as she did, but slowly relaxed as to not alert her. Kagome either didn't notice or care that her face was pressed against his wound, blood smearing onto her cheek. He was very careful not to hiss in pain as she brought her face even closer.

"You're shaking," he said, startled.

Was it so surprising? First she'd been kidnapped, then she'd _shot_ Naraku, scaring herself out of her wits to what would happen after that. If they hadn't arrived…

"I tried to pull off the biggest bluff of my life," she muttered into his torn shirt. Though maybe it wasn't entirely a bluff. She boasted about her powers, which she didn't entirely know how to use… yet she was able to make Naraku's arm look like _that_, all black and decayed… Of course, if she'd known that before…

Seeing the way Kagome clung to Inuyasha, Kouga tried to go toward her, but Sango grabbed his arm, stopping him from going forward. She shook her head at him, though Kouga didn't look happy when she did. Sango went on to check Kouga's scratches and bruises, keeping him occupied while Kagome and Inuyasha had their time alone.

He tentatively put his arms around her, trying to offer her comfort, but she cried out when she did and backed away. Her arm went around her bruised rib as her face contorted with pain.

"Sorry," he muttered.

She gave him a small smile. "It's alright, not your fault." She glanced at the ground and continued in a soft voice, "I'm glad you came though. You're always coming to my rescue…"

Inuyasha abruptly turned away from her, looking instead toward the cars that sped by a couple hundred yards away.

"Inuyasha?" she asked quietly.

He flinched as he heard the hurt in her voice, but he didn't turn back. He still hadn't forgiven her for leaving him behind. Just because he wasn't a demon, because he wasn't _useful_ at the moment, she had refused to take him with her. And that… it had hurt more than he'd dared to say.

He muttered a quick goodbye and before she could reach out for him, he had jumped away, leaving a confused and hurt Kagome behind.

"I've gotta get back to the club," Kagome heard Kouga say from behind her.

Was he leaving her now, too?

It was Sango that spoke. "Kouga, wait." He gave her tired, but questioning look. She tossed him the keys to the car, which he instinctively caught. "Can you do us one last favor and drive us somewhere? The three of us need to get to our healer and I'm in no condition to drive."

He might have refused had Kagome not been involved. With her in the car, he easily complied and started up the machine. Sango sat in the passenger seat, ready to give the wolf demon directions while Kagome slid into the back where Shippo was lying. Taking the small demon into her arms, she fell into a pain-induced sleep in a matter of minutes.

* * *

"Get your damn hands off me!" Inuyasha yelled. He tried to elbow his holder in the stomach, but his reflexes were sluggish. The demon just tightened his hold and easily avoided the pathetic attack. 

The two demons holding him forced him to his knees as they applied pressure to his shoulders and he complied without being able to struggle much. It was an effort just to move his body, he felt so exhausted… his eyes could hardly focus…

He almost fell forward, but one of the demons caught him, demanding roughly that he stay up. The other took hold of his face and turned it to face upward. There was something there… some sort of blob… a person, maybe?

The demon seemed to hand something to the dark blur. It was a shining gold stone, the only thing Inuyasha could see clearly in his vision.

The dark blob spoke. "amazing little stone, isn't it?" the voice he heard not too long ago said. He knew that voice… he _knew_ he was familiar with it… but his head… so unclear… "It does not affect demons or humans, but half breeds…"

What Inuyasha could only assume was his hand closed around the stone and then he must have put it somewhere since it suddenly disappeared. Things became more clear for Inuyasha then; his body felt more solid, though heavy; his thoughts became lucid once more; his eyes focused and…

"Naraku!" he growled, trying to break free of his restraints. Surprisingly, he couldn't get out of the grasps of the two demons. What the hell was wrong with him?

And why was he back in this dump, in front of the wounded Naraku? How had they captured him? And why would Naraku want him? All these thoughts _should_ have been going through his head… however, his mind was only focused on one word. **_Kill_**.

"The stone is still affecting your body," Naraku explained, as though knowing what Inuyasha was wondering.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth as he strained against the hands that held him both of his arms in place. "What the hell do you want from me? Why am I here?"

If Inuyasha didn't know better, he could have sworn Naraku raised an eyebrow. "Is that how you greet old _friends_? Or are you just rude because you have new "playmates"?"

"We were never friends," Inuyasha said each word filled with anger.

"Now how could you say that? I remember a time when you were _very_ loyal to my cause and I. You _hated_ those humans." He gestured to the side, showing how he included all humans in the statement. Then his face turned thoughtful. "But now it seems you are… _acquainted_ with the girl I desire."

Inuyasha looked away. "Feh, hardly."

The demons jerked him back to look at Naraku, who looked amused by the comment "You would not go bursting through a wall for just anyone. And the way she looked at you would suggest that there is a certain fondness there."

Naraku's hand went to his chin, holding it up to make Inuyasha look at him. The grip wasn't tight and there was almost a gentleness to it. Another deception there, trying to lure a person into a false sense of security.

He had had enough. "I stopped working for you a long time ago, _Naraku_. Whatever you want from me, I won't do it."

"I want the girl. And I want you to get her for me."

Such simple words, as though it were nothing. Such a simple, easy request.

"It should be any easy feat, with how close the two of you are."

Inuyasha's amber eyes flashed. "No way."

Naraku's grip slid down to grasp Inuyasha's throat tightly. "What was that?"

"I… said. _**No. Fucking. Way**!_" he choked out.

He burst from Naraku's grip and the knocked the two demons away violently with a sudden show of strength that should not have been there. He backed a few feet away, though shakily as his legs wanted to give out on him. Standing in a defensive position, he got ready for the attack.

Naraku signaled for the two demons to back off and did not go after Inuyasha himself. He stood there for a long moment as he prepared to attack. The odds were certainly against him, but he wouldn't back down. Not now, not ever.

Before he could move a muscle, however, Naraku spoke. "I'd hate for something to happen to that priestess you were so fond of."

Inuyasha froze.

"What would she think, knowing that _you_ let her die—someone who was once so important to you—for some other _girl_?"

_What_?

They had her? But.. how? Shit, what could he do now. He cared deeply for the priestess, who let him start over and get away from the life that would have certainly killed him. But Kagome… there was no way he could betray her. Not when he had promised to help her and she depended on him so much… how could he just give her up? He couldn't, there was no way.

Kagome… the trust in her eyes… She'd never even dare think ill of him. She always expected him to save her, because he always had. And he would… or at least, he thought he would.

But to leave the priestess to die… Where was his gratitude for what she'd done for him? He'd made a promise to her too…

With the priestess, they'd kill her… but Kagome, on the other hand… And if he _didn't_ agree, his life was on the line too…

His first true friend… or his newest interest…

He looked away, completely letting his guard slip. Closing his eyes and letting out one, long breath he said the one sentence that could destroy a life.

"…I'll do it."

* * *

**AN**: _Don't sell Inuyasha short. Do you think he meant what he said?_

_Thank you to everyone that reviewed! You're so sweet and I don't deserve it._


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